Stillness in Motion in the Seventeenth Century Theatre (Routledge Studies in Renaissance Literature and Culture)

Stillness in Motion in the Seventeenth Century Theatre provides a comprehensive examination of this aesthetic theory. The author investigates this aesthetic history as a form of artistic creation, philosophical investigation, a way of representing and manipulating ideas about gender and a way of acknowledging, reinforcing and making a critique of social values for the still and moving, the permanent and elapsing. The book's analysis covers the entire seventeenth-century with chapters on the work of Ben Jonson, John Milton, the pamphletheatre, Aphra Behn, John Vanbrugh and Jeremy Collier and will be of interest to scholars in the areas of literary and performance studies. Creating An Experimental Argument For Scholarly Attention To Performance, This Book Suggests That Without Knowing How Performance Creates Meaning In Reception, Our Understanding Of A Century Where Much Of The Political, Theatrical And Social Action Occurred Between Audiences And In Public Spaces Is Blunted. The Focus On Performance And Reception Offers Theories On The Practice Of Reading And The Frequent Use Of Theatrical Techniques Employed By Authors To Evoke The Sensations Of Live Performance. The Author Also Examines The Practice Of Collecting And The Give And Take Of Reception In The Context Of Theories Of Gift Exchange.--jacket. Prologue: Making Sense -- 1. Permanently Moving: Ben Jonson And The Design Of A Lasting Performance -- 2. Predominantly Still: John Milton And The Sacred Persuasions Of Performance -- 3. Theatrically Pressed: Pamphletheatre And The Performance Of A Nation -- 4. Decidedly Moving: Aphra Behn And The Staging Of Paradoxical Pleasures -- 5. Perpetually Stilled: Jeremy Collier And John Vanbrugh On Bonds, Women, And Soliloquies -- Epilogue: Making Space. P.a. Skantze. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.