Description
Book SynopsisA revelatory history of the characters that playwrights and managers created out of the real lives of women in intimate relationships with military men to serve Great Britain's greatest needs during the war-saturated eighteenth century. During the long eighteenth century, Great Britain was almost continuously at war. As the era unfolded, the theatre gradually discovered the potential in having actresses, recently introduced to the stage in the 1660s, perform as wartime women characters. As playwrights and managers began casting women in transformative roles to meet each major national need, female characters came to be central figures in bringing the war home to the nation, transforming them into deeply patriotic British subjects. Paula Backscheider's Women in Wartime is the first study of theatrical representations of women with intimate connections to military men. Drawing upon her extensive expertise in gender, performance studies, popular culture, and archival studies, Backsche
Trade ReviewPaula R. Backscheider, a significant writer on the subject of eighteenth-century drama...analyses more than fifty plays in a substantial work that she acknowldges took years to write.
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Times Literary SupplementWomen in Wartime is masterfully written tying together theory, historical context and a vast body of evidence....Backscheider's work is relevant far beyond the eighteenth century; she identifies quintessential themes that continue to shape perceptions of gender in theatre and literature today, and perhaps most importantly, shows how intertheatricality can impact studies of theatre, gender, representation and reception.
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Gender & HistoryPaula R. Backscheider offers an expansive prehistory of this familiar gendered and generational patriotism...There is much to appreciate in this study.
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Theatre SurveyParticularly valuable among the critical pieces I have thus far discussed are those that contribute to the continued recovery and recentring of women's writing and women's representation in long eighteenth-century drama.... Prime among these is Paula R. Backscheider's
Women in Wartime: Theatrical Representations in the Long Eighteenth Century, a tremendous undertaking that explores, as the title suggests, how the backdrop of 'intense periods of British wars' across the long eighteenth century affected playwrights' portrayals of female characters of all classes.
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The Year's Work in English StudiesTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Textual Note
Introduction
1. Prolegomenon. The Genesis of Wartime Women: Statira, Parisatis, and Roxana
2. The Changing Face of War: Fidelia, Mrs. Gripe, and Clarinda
3. In the Shadow of Marlborough's War: Silvia, Rose, Belvedera, and Dorcas
4. Crisis Years: Women Must Say "Go"
5. From Props to Players: Nelly, Sukey, and Feridon
6. Marrying Military: Gendered Patriotism
Coda
Appendix A: Wars, Recruiting, and Women's Responsibilities and Rights
Appendix B: News
Notes
Bibliography
Index
