In the fall of 1723, two London theaters staged, almost simultaneously, pantomime performances of the Faust story. Unlike traditional five-act plays, pantomime-a bawdy hybrid of dance, music, spectacle, and commedia dell'arte featuring the familiar figure of the harlequin at its center-was a theatrical experience of unprecedented accessibility. The immediate popularity of this new genre created the first instance of youth culture in modern Europe, drawing theater apprentices to the cities to learn the new style, and ...
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In the fall of 1723, two London theaters staged, almost simultaneously, pantomime performances of the Faust story. Unlike traditional five-act plays, pantomime-a bawdy hybrid of dance, music, spectacle, and commedia dell'arte featuring the familiar figure of the harlequin at its center-was a theatrical experience of unprecedented accessibility. The immediate popularity of this new genre created the first instance of youth culture in modern Europe, drawing theater apprentices to the cities to learn the new style, and pantomime became the subject of lively debate within British society. Alexander Pope and Henry Fielding, for example, bitterly opposed the intrusion into legitimate literary culture of what they regarded as fairground amusements, which appealed to sensation and passion over reason and judgment. In Harlequin Britain, literary scholar John O'Brien examines this new form of entertainment and the effect it had on British culture. Why did pantomime become so popular so quickly? Why was it perceived as culturally threatening and socially destabilizing? Among other factors cited by O'Brien, Robert Walpole's one-party rule, which increasingly dampened debate, created a vacuum in the public sphere. Pantomime filled that void with socially subversive commentary. At the same time, pantomime appealed to the abstracted taste of the mass audience. Its extraordinary popularity underscores the continuing centrality of live performance in a culture that is most typically seen as having shifted its attention to the written text, in particular to the novel. Written in a lively style rich with anecdotes, Harlequin Britain establishes the emergence of eighteenth-century English pantomime, with its promiscuous blending of genres and subjects, as a key moment in the development of modern entertainment culture.
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Add this copy of Harlequin Britain: Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690 to cart. $50.83, good condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 650grams, ISBN: 0801879108.
Add this copy of Harlequin Britain: Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690 to cart. $44.41, very good condition, Sold by Hay-on-Wye Booksellers rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hereford, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Very Good. Dust jacket has light scratches and edgeware has minor scuffs. Book content is in like new condition. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 274 p. Contains: Halftones, black & white, Line drawings, black & white.
Add this copy of Harlequin Britain-Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690 to cart. $36.56, very good condition, Sold by Daisyroots Book Shop, ships from Grange over Sands, CUMBRIA, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2004 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
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Very good in very good dust jacket. Harlequin Britain: Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690-1760. O'BRIEN, John. 0801879108. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2004, hardback with dust wrapper, boards black/gilt, VG/vg, red and yellow tail bands, illustrated from b/w photographs of original pen and ink drawings, 274 pp. Boards clean and firm, no inscriptions, annotated throughout the introduction, sound square binding, pages clean and bright Wrapper clean and crisp, gentle rubs to edges and corners ANNOTATED. SOCIAL HISTOR.
Add this copy of Harlequin Britain Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690 to cart. $59.50, very good condition, Sold by Michener & Rutledge Bookseller rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Baldwin City, KS, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Add this copy of Harlequin Britain: Pantomime and Entertainment, 1690? to cart. $106.32, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2004 by Johns Hopkins University Press.
