Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States
In the mid-19th century, rhetoric surrounding slavery was permeated by violence. Slavery’s defenders often used brute force to suppress opponents, and even those abolitionists dedicated to pacifism drew upon visions of widespread destruction. Provocative Eloquence recounts how the theater, long an arena for heightened eloquence and physical contest, proved terribly relevant in the lead up to the Civil War. As antislavery speech and open conflict intertwined, the nation became a stage. The book brings together notions of intertextuality and interperformativity to understand how the confluence of oratorical and theatrical practices in the antebellum period reflected the conflict over slavery and deeply influenced the language that barely contained that conflict. The book draws on a wide range of work in performance studies, theater history, black performance theory, oratorical studies, and literature and law to provide a new narrative of the interaction of oratorical, theatrical, and literary histories of the nineteenth-century U.S.
"1129663236"
Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States
In the mid-19th century, rhetoric surrounding slavery was permeated by violence. Slavery’s defenders often used brute force to suppress opponents, and even those abolitionists dedicated to pacifism drew upon visions of widespread destruction. Provocative Eloquence recounts how the theater, long an arena for heightened eloquence and physical contest, proved terribly relevant in the lead up to the Civil War. As antislavery speech and open conflict intertwined, the nation became a stage. The book brings together notions of intertextuality and interperformativity to understand how the confluence of oratorical and theatrical practices in the antebellum period reflected the conflict over slavery and deeply influenced the language that barely contained that conflict. The book draws on a wide range of work in performance studies, theater history, black performance theory, oratorical studies, and literature and law to provide a new narrative of the interaction of oratorical, theatrical, and literary histories of the nineteenth-century U.S.
79.95 In Stock
Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States

Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States

by Laura L. Mielke
Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States

Provocative Eloquence: Theater, Violence, and Antislavery Speech in the Antebellum United States

by Laura L. Mielke

Hardcover

$79.95 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Related collections and offers


Overview

In the mid-19th century, rhetoric surrounding slavery was permeated by violence. Slavery’s defenders often used brute force to suppress opponents, and even those abolitionists dedicated to pacifism drew upon visions of widespread destruction. Provocative Eloquence recounts how the theater, long an arena for heightened eloquence and physical contest, proved terribly relevant in the lead up to the Civil War. As antislavery speech and open conflict intertwined, the nation became a stage. The book brings together notions of intertextuality and interperformativity to understand how the confluence of oratorical and theatrical practices in the antebellum period reflected the conflict over slavery and deeply influenced the language that barely contained that conflict. The book draws on a wide range of work in performance studies, theater history, black performance theory, oratorical studies, and literature and law to provide a new narrative of the interaction of oratorical, theatrical, and literary histories of the nineteenth-century U.S.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780472131051
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Publication date: 02/26/2019
Pages: 296
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Laura L. Mielke is Associate Professor of English, University of Kansas.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Provocative Eloquence and the Antebellum Scene 1

1 Edwin Forrest and Heroic Oratory 25

2 William Wells Brown, Mary Webb, and the Emergence of Dramatic Suasion 55

3 Martyred Eloquence and Stagings of Dred 83

4 Portia's Eloquence and the Law in Racial Melodrama 117

5 Staging John Brown in Eloquence and Action 157

Notes 199

Index 277

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews