Subjects
Eighteenth-Century Women Playwrights
General Editor: Derek Hughes
Volume Editors: Antje Blank, Anne Kelley, Eva Mueller-Zettelmann, Jaqueline Pearson, Betty Rizzo, Margarete Rubik and Angela Smallwood
978 1 85196 616 5: 234x156mm: £495.00/$840.00
This title is available as a full-text database through Intelex
This six-volume anthology documents the history of women’s drama throughout the eighteenth century, starting with the emergence in 1695-6 of the second generation of women dramatists in succession to Aphra Behn.
From 1670 until her death in 1689, Aphra Behn had established herself as one of the leading dramatists of her time, having far more new plays performed during these years than any competitor, and paving the way for the surge in women’s playwriting towards the end of the century: between 1695 and 1700, six new women dramatists had plays premièred, and from then on women consistently made an important and diverse contribution to the stage. Those included in this collection include Catherine Trotter (1679-1749), Mary Pix (1666-c. 1720), Delarivier Manley (1663-1724), Eliza Haywood (c. 1693-1736), Susannah Centlivre (c. 1670-1723), Elizabeth Griffith (c. 1720-93), Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) and Hannah Cowley (1743-1809).
The stagelays included in this edition are supported by extensive new editorial material, including a general introduction, volume introductions, endnotes, bibliographies and a consolidated index. It will appeal to those interested in Restoration drama and women's writing throughout the long eighteenth century.
- General introduction
- Fully edited and annotated
- Separate introductions to each volume
- Bibliographies of the lives and works of each author
Contents
Volume 1
Delarivier Manley (1663-1724), Eliza Haywood (c. 1693?-1736)
Delarivier Manley: The Lost Lover; The Royal Mischief
Eliza Haywood: The Fair Captive; A Wife to be Lett
Volume 2
Mary Pix (1666-c. 1720) Catherine Trotter (1679-1749)
Mary Pix: The Deceiver Deceived; Queen Catharine
Catherine Trotter: Love at a Loss; The Revolution of Sweden
Volume 3
Susanna Centlivre (c. 1670-1723)
The Basset-Table; The Busie Body; The Wonder! a Woman Keeps a Secret; A Bold Stroke for a Wife
Volume 4
Elizabeth Griffith (c. 1720-93)
The Platonic Wife; The Double Mistake; The School for Rakes; A Wife in the Right
Volume 5
Hannah Cowley (1743-1809)
The Runaway; The Belle’s Stratagem; A Bold Stroke for a Husband; The Town Before You
Volume 6
Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821)
The Widow’s Vow; Such Things Are; The Child of Nature; Next Door Neighbours; Wives as they Were and Maids as they Are
Reviews
‘Eighteenth-Century Women Playwrights is a meticulously edited, informatively annotated, and beautifully produced six-volume anthology of plays; general editor Derek Hughes and publisher Pickering & Chatto are to be commended for making these works accessible and comprehensible to today’s reader...an anthology no academic library should be without.’
– Cheryl L Nixon, Eighteenth-Century Women