Thomas Holcrofts Revolutionary Drama: Reception and Afterlives [Paperback]

A key figure in British literary circles following the French Revolution, novelist and playwright Thomas Holcroft promoted ideas of reform and equality informed by the philosophy of his close friend William Godwin. Arrested for treason in 1794 and released without trial, Holcroft was notorious in his own time, but today appears mainly as a supporting character in studies of 1790s literary activism.Thomas Holcroft’s Revolutionary Dramaauthoritatively reintroduces and reestablishes this central figure of the revolutionary decade by examining his life, plays, memoirs, and personal correspondence. In engaging with theatrical censorship, apostacy, and the response of audiences and critics to radical drama, this thoughtful study also demonstrates how theater functions in times of political repression. Despite his struggles, Holcroft also had major successes: this book examines his surprisingly robust afterlife, as his plays, especiallyThe Road to Ruin, were repeatedly revived worldwide in the nineteenth century.Thomas Holcroft’s Revolutionary Dramareintroduces Holcroft as a central figure in the 1790s and beyond. His life is examined alongside his plays, memoir, diary, and personal correspondence, along with the critical and popular response to his radical drama, showing how theater functions in times of political repression. Holcroft’s robust afterlife is also discussed, especially his playThe Road to Ruin, revived worldwide throughout the nineteenth century.AMY GARNAI teaches at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv, Israel. She is the author ofRevolutionary Imaginings in the 1790s: Charlotte Smith, Mary Robinson, Elizabeth Inchbald, and her essays have been published inWomen’s Writing,SEL,Eighteenth-Century Studies,The Wordsworth Circle, andThe Review of English Studies.List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
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