Too foul and dishonoring to be overlooked : newspaper responses to controversial English stars in the Northeastern United States, 1820-1870

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dc.contributor.advisorCanning, Charlotte, 1964-en
dc.contributor.committeeMemberJones, Joni L.en
dc.contributor.committeeMemberWolf, Stacyen
dc.contributor.committeeMemberThompson, Shirley E.en
dc.contributor.committeeMemberForgie, Georgeen
dc.creatorSmith, Tamara Leanneen
dc.date.accessioned2010-09-30T19:51:49Zen
dc.date.available2010-09-30T19:51:49Zen
dc.date.available2010-09-30T19:51:56Zen
dc.date.issued2010-05en
dc.date.submittedMay 2010en
dc.date.updated2010-09-30T19:51:56Zen
dc.descriptiontexten
dc.description.abstractIn the nineteenth century, theatre and newspapers were the dominant expressions of popular culture in the northeastern United States, and together formed a crucial discursive node in the ongoing negotiation of American national identity. Focusing on the five decades between 1820 and 1870, during which touring stars from Great Britain enjoyed their most lucrative years of popularity on United States stages, this dissertation examines three instances in which English performers entered into this nationalizing forum and became flashpoints for journalists seeking to define the nature and bounds of American citizenship and culture. In 1821, Edmund Kean’s refusal to perform in Boston caused a scandal that revealed a widespread fixation among social elites with delineating the ethnic and economic limits of citizenship in a republican nation. In 1849, an ongoing rivalry between the English tragedian William Charles Macready and his American competitor Edwin Forrest culminated in the deadly Astor Place riot. By configuring the actors as champions in a struggle between bourgeois authority and working-class populism, the New York press inserted these local events into international patterns of economic conflict and revolutionary violence. Nearly twenty years later, the arrival of the Lydia Thompson Burlesque Troupe in 1868 drew rhetoric that reflected the popular press’ growing preoccupation with gender, particularly the question of woman suffrage and the preservation of the United States’ international reputation as a powerfully masculine nation in the wake of the Civil War. Three distinct cultural currents pervade each of these case studies: the new nation’s anxieties about its former colonizer’s cultural influence, competing political and cultural ideologies within the United States, and the changing perspectives and agendas of the ascendant popular press. Exploring the points where these forces intersect, this dissertation aims to contribute to an understanding of how popular culture helped shape an emerging sense of American national identity. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that in the mid-nineteenth century northeastern United States, popular theatre, newspapers, and audiences all contributed to a single media formation in which controversial English performers became a rhetorical antipode against which “American” identity could be defined.en
dc.description.departmentTheatre and Dance
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2152/ETD-UT-2010-05-921en
dc.language.isoengen
dc.subjectActorsen
dc.subjectActingen
dc.subjectAlabama claimsen
dc.subjectAnglophobiaen
dc.subjectAstor Place Rioten
dc.subjectAudienceen
dc.subjectAudiencesen
dc.subjectBowery Boysen
dc.subjectBurlesqueen
dc.subjectCitizenshipen
dc.subjectClassen
dc.subjectControversyen
dc.subjectDemocratic Partyen
dc.subjectKean, Edmunden
dc.subjectForrest, Edwinen
dc.subjectEnglanden
dc.subjectFemininityen
dc.subjectFeminismen
dc.subjectGenderen
dc.subjectGreat Britainen
dc.subjectRynders, Isaiahen
dc.subjectJewish American identityen
dc.subjectJewsen
dc.subjectUnited Statesen
dc.subjectIdentityen
dc.subjectJournalismen
dc.subjectThompson, Lydiaen
dc.subjectMasculinityen
dc.subjectMediaen
dc.subjectMedia formationsen
dc.subjectMelodramaen
dc.subjectWalsh, Mikeen
dc.subjectNoah, Mordecaien
dc.subjectNational Advocateen
dc.subjectNational identityen
dc.subjectNationalismen
dc.subjectNew Yorken
dc.subjectNew York Heralden
dc.subjectNew York Tribuneen
dc.subjectNewspapersen
dc.subjectNineteenth centuryen
dc.subjectNortheastern United Statesen
dc.subjectLogan, Oliveen
dc.subjectPerformanceen
dc.subjectPopular cultureen
dc.subjectPopular pressen
dc.subjectMass print mediaen
dc.subjectRepublican Partyen
dc.subjectRevolution, 1848-1849en
dc.subjectRhetoricen
dc.subjectScandalen
dc.subjectShakespeareen
dc.subjectSpirit of the Timesen
dc.subjectSuffrageen
dc.subjectNativismen
dc.subjectTheatreen
dc.subjectTouring starsen
dc.subjectWhig Partyen
dc.subjectMacready, William Charlesen
dc.subjectRichard III (play)en
dc.subjectMerchant of Veniceen
dc.subjectShylocken
dc.titleToo foul and dishonoring to be overlooked : newspaper responses to controversial English stars in the Northeastern United States, 1820-1870en
dc.type.genrethesisen
thesis.degree.departmentTheatre and Danceen
thesis.degree.disciplineTheatreen
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Texas at Austinen
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen

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