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Introduction

‘To the great Variety of Readers’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2022

Amy Lidster
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

The Introduction explains why the early modern history play needs to be reappraised through an examination of publishers and the publication process. It opens by considering the problems of author-centric approaches that tend to discuss Shakespeare’s English histories to the exclusion of other plays, dramatists, and agents of production. It shows how ideas of ‘history’ and performed ‘histories’ were defined, debated, and interpreted during the period. This evidence demands an approach to the history play that is alert to the participation of different individuals in constructing the genre. The second half of the Introduction directs attention towards the transmission of plays from stage to page and proposes that publication agents have actively controlled and shaped the printed history play through two interlinked agendas, which feature throughout the book: strategies of selection (seen through print contexts) and strategies of presentation (seen through print paratexts). Finally, the Introduction considers the origins of these print strategies in non-commercial and pre-playhouse drama and offers a short case study on the Inns of Court play Gorboduc.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
Stationers Shaping a Genre
, pp. 1 - 42
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Introduction
  • Amy Lidster, University of Oxford
  • Book: Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043656.001
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  • Introduction
  • Amy Lidster, University of Oxford
  • Book: Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043656.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Amy Lidster, University of Oxford
  • Book: Publishing the History Play in the Time of Shakespeare
  • Online publication: 10 March 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009043656.001
Available formats
×