Staging the Slums, Slumming the Stage: Class, Poverty, Ethnicity, and Sexuality in American Theatre, 1890-1916

ISBN-13: 9781137359681 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 278 str.

J. Chris Westgate

Opis

Slum plays represent the different locations, attractions, and challenges of life in the slums such as tenements and tenants' rights, immigrant neighborhoods and nativist prejudices, and red-light districts and prostitution. This genre's rise in prominence

Recenzje

"This book is a valuable resource for scholars of national and theatrical history ... providing not only an idea of popular dramaturgy, but of theatre and entertainment culture during this time and place. In that vein it is also a useful resource for sociological and ethnographic research because it examines the relationship among various entertainment and recreation trends and connects them to the social, political, economic, and ideological realities of turn-of-the-century New York." (Sarah Crockarell, Theatre Journal, Vol. 68 (1), March, 2016)

"Westgate's discussion of the plays and productions provides a wealth of theatre history as well as a rich cultural context for understanding it. Drawing with confidence on his knowledge of history and the relevant critical theory, Westgate makes his arguments clearly and persuasively. ... Staging the Slums, Slumming the Stage is a significant contribution to our understanding not only of American drama and theatre but also of the cultural and social history of the American Progressive Era." (Brenda Murphy, Modern Drama, Vol. 58, Winter, 2015)

Spis treści

Introduction: Darnton's Lament PART I: MODES OF STAGING THE SLUMS 1. "Strange Things" from the Bowery: The Tourism Narrative in Slum Plays 2. "What the Poor of this Great City Must Endure": The Sociological Narrative in Slum Plays PART III: SLUMMING DESTINATIONS ON STAGE 3. The Courage to See the Sights of the Tenement 4. The Spectacle of Immigrant Neighborhoods 5. Touring the Red Lights District PART III: CASE STUDIES IN SLUM PLAYS 6. "Nothing More Infernal": Verisimilitude and Voyeurism in Salvation Nell 7. "Avoiding the Grotesque and Offensive": The Zangwill Plays

O autorze

J. Chris Westgate is Associate Professor in the Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics at California State University, Fullerton, USA.