Spheres of Action : : Speech and Performance in Romantic Culture / / Angela Esterhammer, Alexander Dick.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter UTP eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2015
• TeilnehmendeR: Dick, Alexander ,; Esterhammer, Angela,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

With contributions from leading Romanticist scholars who draw on literary history, performance studies, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology, Spheres of Action examines the significant intersections between language and performance during the Romantic period. These essays consider cultural phenomena such as elocution and political oratory, newspaper journalism, public mourning, the function of gesture and clothing in theatre - even a long-distance walking contest. They examine the problematic relationships among action, agency, and language in a variety of cultural institutions and media from the era. Exploring aspects of public speaking and body language, these essays propose that understanding the culture and institutions of the Romantic period requires nuanced approaches to performance and agency. The collection also studies the ways in which the Romantics discovered both the potency and limitations of performativity. Presenting a boldly multifaceted portrait of Romantic culture, Spheres of Action is essential reading for Romanticists, historians, and scholars with interests in language and performance.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Introduction: Romantic Spheres of Action / Esterhammer, Angela / Dick, Alexander -- PART 1. Public Speaking -- 1. Re-sounding Romanticism: John Thelwall and the Science and Practice of Elocution / Thompson, Judith -- 2. Coleridge the Lecturer, A Disappearing Act / Zimmerman, Sarah M. -- 3. Wordsworth's Lament / Dick, Alexander -- 4. Blasphemy Trials and The Cenci: Parody as Performative / Myers, Victoria -- 5. A Race of Devils: Frankenstein, Romanticism, and the Tragedy of Human Origin / Oort, Richard Van -- PART 2. Body Language -- 6. Telling Lies with Body Language / Burwick, Frederick -- 7. Cross-Dressing and the Performance of Gender in Romantic-Period Comic Plays by Women / Purinton, Marjean D. -- 8. Fox's Tears: The Staging of Liquid Politics / O'Quinn, Daniel -- 9. Citational Cosmopolitics: Staël, Byron, and the Foreignizing Effect of Cultural Translation / Lambier, Joshua -- 10. Captain Barclay's Performance: Decoding Pedestrianism in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain / Crochunis, Thomas C. -- Works Cited -- Contributors -- Index