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American Literature Richards works from the premise that people in post-Revolutionary America did not know exactly who or what they were, and that this instability is registered in dramatic texts and their staging, which often adjusted plays to meet locally specific conditions. He begins by considering the âstaging of revolutionâ in works by J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Judith Sargent Murray, and William Dunlap, as well as the popularity and influence of Ireland-born John OâKeefeâs The Poor Soldier (1783). Richards examines identity politics with instructive readings of Susanna Rowsonâs stage Muslim, James Nelson Barkerâs American Native, the stage Irish, and the stage African. The final section investigates the interactions of theater, culture, and identity through readings of Charles Brockden Brownâs Ormond; the theater scene in Norfolk, Virginia; and Royall Tylerâs poetic rejections of a commercial theater for America. Tylerâs play The Contrast is often the only drama included in literary anthologies of this period, but one comes away from Richardsâs study with a sense that the theater world that developed in the early republican period was rich, complex, and international. Although a native theater began to flourish in the mid-nineteenth century, middle-class Americans were often turning inward.
American Literature – Duke University Press
Published: Jun 1, 2007
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