Description
Book SynopsisWays of the World explores cosmopolitanism as it emerged during the Restoration and the role theater played in both memorializing and satirizing its implications and consequences. Rooted in the Stuart ambition to raise the status of England through two crucial investmentsglobal traffic, including the slave trade, and cultural sophisticationthis intensified global orientation led to the creation of global mercantile networks and to the rise of an urban British elite who drank Ethiopian coffee out of Asian porcelain at Ottoman-inspired coffeehouses. Restoration drama exposed cosmopolitanism''s most embarrassing and troubling aspects, with such writers as Joseph Addison, Aphra Behn, John Dryden, and William Wycherley dramatizing the emotional and ethical dilemmas that imperial and commercial expansion brought to light.
Altering standard narratives about Restoration drama, Laura J. Rosenthal shows how the reinvention of theater in this periodincluding technical innovations
Trade Review
This well-argued, thought-provoking book argues for the key role of theater in the development of English cosmopolitanism and imperialism during the Restoration and 18th century. Well written and persuasive, the book significantly furthers the study of Restoration theater and its connections to the politics of empire.
-- L. S. Stanavage, SUNY Potsdam * Choice *
With regard to the study of emotions as culturally and temporally specific phenomena, Ways of the World has much on offer.
* Emotions: History, Culture & Society *
Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. All Roads Lead to Rhodes: William Davenant, Ottomanphilia, and the Reinvention of Theater in the Restoration
2. Travestie: William Wycherley, the Fop, and the Provincial Girl
3. Indian Queens and the Queen Who Brought the Indies: Dryden, Settle, and the Tragedies of Empire
4. Restoration Legacies: Tragic Monarchs, Exotic and Enslaved
5. "Have You Not Been Sophisticated?": The Afterlife of the Restoration Actress
6. Histories of Their Own Times: Burnet, Cibber, and Rochester
Epilogue: Mr. Spectator, Adam Smith, and the New Global Citizenship
