Authorship and Appropriation is the first full-length study of the cultural and economic status of playwriting in the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and argues that the period was a decisive one in the transition from Renaissance conceptions of authorship towards modern ones. In Shakespeare's time, the creative originality and independence of voice had been little prized. Playwrights had appropriated materials from earlier writings with little censure, while the practice of collaboration among dramatists had been taken for granted. Paulina Kewes demonstrates that, in the decades following the Restoration, those attitudes were challenged by new conceptions of dramatic art which required authors to be the sole begetters of their works. This book explores a series of developments in the theatrical marketplace which increased both the rewards and the prestige of the dramatist, and shows the Restoration period to have been one of serious and animated debate about the methods of playwriting. Against that background, Kewes offers a fresh account of the formation of the canon of English drama, revealing how the moderns - Dryden, Otway, Lee, Behn, and then their successors Congreve, Vanbrugh, and Farquhar - acquired an esteem equal, even superior, to their illustrious predecessors Shakespeare, Jonson, and Fletcher.
Reviews
The study represents a formidable amount of research ... combines thoroughness with an ability to theorize, close reading with an ability to chart developments in politics, economics, theatre and publishing. ... By looking at archive material in a fresh light, Kewes is able to offer a fresh account of the formation of the canon of English drama. Her work impacts on a variety of fields apart from theatre studies, from bibliography to Schakespeare studies. I felt humbled by this book and productively challenged. * Theatre Research International, vol. 26/3 *
quite subtle (and sometimes conflicting) notions of appropriative licence and limitation are identified, distinct both from earlier notions of imitation and the later cult of originality. * Theatre Research International, vol. 26/3 *
This ground-breaking and scholarly book charts the transition from Renaissance ideas of dramatic authorship to modern ones. * Theatre Research International, vol. 26/3 *
Perhaps the greatest compliment one can offer Kewes is to say that this monograph makes one long for her to go on and explore such matters further. * Malcolm Kelsall, The Yearbook of English Studies (31) *
The two long discussions of Langbaine are particularly strong and deserve to provoke renewed attention to the issue of "sources" in Restoration theatre. * Malcolm Kelsall, The Yearbook of English Studies (31) *
the enormous strength of this monograph is the close attention given to the detail of the market as it developed. * Malcolm Kelsall, The Yearbook of English Studies (31) *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198184683
Author Paulina Kewes
Format Hardback
Page Count 318
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 555g
Dimensions(mm) 224mm * 144mm * 25mm