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Early Modern Spectatorship

Interpreting English Culture, 1500-1780

edited by Ronald Huebert & David McNeil

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2019
Subjects
Great Britain
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773557925
    Publish Date
    Jun 2019
    List Price
    $45.95

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Description

What did it mean to be a spectator during the lifetime of Shakespeare or of Aphra Behn? In Early Modern Spectatorship contributors use the idea of spectatorship to reinterpret canonical early modern texts and bring visibility to relatively unknown works. While many early modern spectacles were designed to influence those who watched, the very presence of spectators and their behaviour could alter the conduct and the meaning of the event itself. In the case of public executions, for example, audiences could both observe and be observed by the executioner and the condemned. Drawing on work in the digital humanities and theories of cultural spectacle, these essays discuss subjects as various as the death of Desdemona in Othello, John Donne's religious orientation, Ned Ward's descriptions of London, and Louis Laguerre's murals painted for the residences of English aristocrats. A lucid exploration of subtle questions, Early Modern Spectatorship identifies, imagines, and describes the spectator's experience in early modern culture.

About the authors

Ronald Huebert is a professor in the Department of English at Dalhousie University and Carnegie Professor at the University of King’s College.

Ronald Huebert's profile page

David McNeil is a former associate professor in the Department of English at Dalhousie University.

David McNeil's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"Early Modern Spectatorship brings together and expands the concept of spectatorship by effectively demonstrating its wide applicability. It also makes a strong case for digital humanities by showing how digital materials enhance the ability of literary scholars to make use of artifacts from material and popular culture, as well as sixteenth-, seventeenth-, and eighteenth-century science and technology." Elizabeth Skerpan-Wheeler, Texas State University