Richard III as a Romantic Icon: Textual, Cultural and Theatrical Appropriations

ISBN-13: 9783034329989 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 270 str.

Nicoletta Caputo

Opis

This book adopts a multi-perspective approach to the historical and dramatic figure of Richard III during the "long" Romantic period, taking into consideration his controversial reputation among historians of the time; his changing place within the critical literature; nineteenth-century adaptations of Shakespeare's play; and above all the contrasting stage interpretations of Richard as dramatis persona, in the performances of such iconic players as David Garrick, George Frederick Cooke and Edmund Kean. The overall picture that emerges is that of the object of almost inexhaustible fascination among the Romantics. The author illustrates, based on abundant documentary evidence, the surprising degree to which Richard is found at the centre of the literary, theatrical, ideological and ethical debates over a period of several decades. Richard's iconic centrality in turn sheds light on Romantic culture at large, and in particular on its understanding of Shakespeare, grounded above all in character analysis, often of a moral and political nature, that tended to hypostasize Shakespeare's villainous king, extrapolating him from his dramaturgic context. (Keir Elam, University of Bologna)

Spis treści

Introduction: Richard III as a «Romantic» Icon - Part I: The «True» Richard III - Revising the Tudor Myth in the Eighteenth Century - Richard's Reputation in Romantic Times - A «Romantic» Richard - Part II: King Richard III on the Page - Eighteenth-Century Character Criticism - The Romantic Critics - Two Unhappy Stage Adaptations - Part III: King Richard III on the Stage - A Hybrid Richard - The «Ogreish» Cooke - The «Harlequin» Kean - Conclusion - Bibliography

O autorze

Nicoletta Caputo is a researcher at the University of Pisa. She holds a PhD in English Studies and has been Folger Shakespeare Library Fellow. She has published articles and a volume on Tudor drama (Playing with Power, 1998); essays on nineteenth-century stage history and on contemporary English theatre and fiction, as well as a monograph on Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus (New Wine in Old Bottles, 2010).