Title: Historiography and ideology in Stuart drama
First published: 1996
Description: This study explores the Stuart history play, a genre often viewed as an inferior or degenerate version of the exemplary Elizabethan dramatic form. Writing in the shadow of Marlowe and Shakespeare, Stuart playwrights have traditionally been evaluated through the aesthetic assumptions and political concerns of the sixteenth century. Ivo Kamps's study traces the development of Jacobean drama in the radically changed literary and political environment of the seventeenth century.

He shows how historiographical developments in this period materially affected the structure of the history play. As audiences became increasingly skeptical of the comparatively simple teleological narratives of the Tudor era, a demand for new ways of staging history emerged. Kamps demonstrates how Stuart drama capitalized on this new awareness of historical narrative to undermine inherited forms of literary and political authority.

Historiography and ideology in Stuart drama is the first sustained attempt to account for a neglected genre, and a sophisticated reading of the relationship between literature, history, and political power.
Subjects: English Historical drama, English Political plays, English drama, Historical drama, English, Historiography, History, History and criticism, Literature and history, Political plays, English, Politics and government, Politics and literature, English drama, history and criticism, 17th century, Historical drama, history and criticism, Great britain, politics and government, 1603-1714, Great britain, historiography, DRAMA, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh
Places: Great Britain
Time periods: 1603-1714, 17th century
LC classification: PR678.H5 K36 1996