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Literary Collections Essays

Spheres of Action

Speech and Performance in Romantic Culture

edited by Alexander Dick & Angela Esterhammer

Publisher
University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Initial publish date
Feb 2020
Category
Essays
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802098030
    Publish Date
    Feb 2009
    List Price
    $89.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487526115
    Publish Date
    Feb 2020
    List Price
    $36.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442692695
    Publish Date
    Feb 2009
    List Price
    $73.00

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Description

With contributions from leading Romanticist scholars who draw on literary history, performance studies, philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology, Spheres of Action examines the significant intersections between language and performance during the Romantic period. These essays consider cultural phenomena such as elocution and political oratory, newspaper journalism, public mourning, the function of gesture and clothing in theatre - even a long-distance walking contest. They examine the problematic relationships among action, agency, and language in a variety of cultural institutions and media from the era.

Exploring aspects of public speaking and body language, these essays propose that understanding the culture and institutions of the Romantic period requires nuanced approaches to performance and agency. The collection also studies the ways in which the Romantics discovered both the potency and limitations of performativity.

Presenting a boldly multifaceted portrait of Romantic culture, Spheres of Action is essential reading for Romanticists, historians, and scholars with interests in language and performance.

About the authors

Alexander Dick is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia.

Alexander Dick's profile page

Angela Esterhammer is a professor in the Department of English at the University of Zurich, and Distinguished University Professor at the University of Western Ontario.

Angela Esterhammer's profile page

Editorial Reviews

Spheres of Action is a series of superb, high powered essays on Romantici-era 'speech' and 'performance' as manifesting the materiality of action in contemporary society.

Gary Farnell, <em>Literature & History</em>, vol 19:01:10