Entertaining the Nation
Subtitle: American Drama in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (Theater in the Americas)
Edition: 1st Edition edition
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Published: October 30, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9780809327782
Subjects: Plays & playwrights: 16th to 18th centuries; Plays & playwrights: 19th century; 18th Century American Drama; 19th Century American Drama; Performing Arts; English; Plays; USA; Theater - History & Criticism; Performing Arts / Theater / History & Criticism; American; Drama; 18th century; 19th century; American drama; History and criticism; Revolutionary period, 1775-1783
Description: "In this survey of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century American drama, Tice L. Miller examines American plays written before a canon was established in American dramatic literature and provides analyses central to the culture that produced them. Entertaining the Nation: American Drama in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries evaluates plays in the early years of the republic, reveals shifts in taste from the classical to the contemporary in the 1840s and 1850s, and considers the increasing influence of realism at the end of the nineteenth century." "Miller explores the relationship between American drama and societal issues during this period. While never completely shedding its English roots, says Miller, the American drama addressed issues important on this side of the Atlantic such as egalitarianism, republicanism, immigration, slavery, the West, Wall Street, and the Civil War." "Entertaining the Nation effectively outlines the civilizing force of drama in the establishment and development of the nation, ameliorating differences among the various theatergoing classes, and provides a microcosm of the changes on and off the stage in America during these two centuries."--Jacket.