Actresses as Working Women : Their Social Identity in Victorian Culture

ISBN-13: 9780415056526 / Angielski / Twarda / 1991 / 200 str.

Tracy C. Davis

Opis

In Victorian society performers were drawn from various class backgrounds, and enjoyed a unique degree of social mobility. Nevertheless, the living and working conditions of female performers were very different from those of their male colleagues. Their segregation and concentration in low-status jobs, like dancing, guaranteed economic insecurity. Actresses' attempts to reconcile sexuality and the female life cycle to a physically demanding, itinerant occupation while under constant public scrutiny led to assumptions about their morality - assumptions that were constantly reinforced by theatrical conventions which reflected popular pornographic images.

Recenzje

`What is most impressive in Davis's study is the broad spectrum of her research. It includes not only the famous names from the era, but the working women of low rank who entered the profession as a means of securing social independence in an age when women belonged to men.' - New Statesman & Society

`This book transforms nineteenth century theatre studies. Tracy Davis brings feminist scholarship and perspectives tellingly to bear on her investigation of the meanings and practices of the world of actresses in the nineteenth century.' - Theatre Research International

`Its a sophisticated scholarship (there are over 450 footnotes) championing a neglected rarity of 19th-century cultural history: women as legitimate autonomous professionals' - City Limits

`It is fascinating and important that someone has at last tackled the topic of women performers as workers, and Tracy Davis is particularly insightful about the ways their image was sexualised by society.' - Morning Star

Spis treści

Part I The Profession 1 THE SOCIOECONOMIC ORGANIZATION OF THE THEATRE 2 SEX, GENDER, AND SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHY 3 THE SOCIAL DYNAMIC AND ‘RESPECTABILITY’ Part II Conditions of work 4 ACTRESSES AND THE MISE EN SCÈNE 5 THE GEOGRAPHY OF SEX IN SOCIETY AND THEATRE

O autorze

Tracy C. Davis is Assistant Professor in Theatre and English at Northwestern University. She has written numerous articles on Victorian theatre and is co-editor of Routledge’s Gender and Performance Series.