The English Miscellany

Drury Lane Theatre Researchers will find this nineteenth century reference work useful: John Genest, Some Account of the English Stage: From the Restoration in 1660 to 1830. Published in 1832. 10 volumes Individual volumes can be quite difficult to track down. Here are the links to the free Google-scanned copies. Volume 1 Volume 2   Volume 3   Volume 4 Volume 5 Volume 6 Volume 7 Volume 8 Volume 9 Volume 10 Map - Covent Garden A sample of the index/contents is shown below. ABBREVIATIONS IN INDEX. T. R. for Theatre Royal. L. I. F. for Lincoln's Inn Fields. D. G for Dorset Garden. Hay. for Haymarket. G. F. for Goodman's Fields. D. L. C for Drury Lane Company. C. G. C. for Covent Garden Company. EXAMPLES from the INDEX TO THE ENGLISH STAGE. This index appears at the beginning of Volume 1. N B. FOR THE FIRST APP. OF ANY PERFORMER OF CONSEQUENCE, SEE HIS. OR HER. CHARACTERS. A

Robert Boyle The reflective essay on a variety of topics can be traced back to Montaigne (1533-1592). His essays display erudite wit and a slippery, speculative, anecdotal approach to a range of themes. In the course of reading his work we start to piece together fragments of his personality and we warm to his humane openness to life. Robert Boyle (1627-1691) was also significant for his ability to compose meditative and inspiring short essays on any topic. Examples are The Christian Virtuoso (1690-91) and his Occasional Reflections on Several Subjects (1665) which included a defence of his methodology. The notion that ordinary, ephemeral topics were suitable for serious readers and profound spiritual reflection was most famously parodied in Jonathan Swift’s Meditations on a Broomstick (1701) But a Broom-stick, perhaps you'll say, is an Emblem of a Tree standing on its Head; and pray what is Man, but a Topsy-turvy Creature, his Animal Faculties perpetually mounted

If you have been reading Valerie Martin's Property which is an optional exam set text in Britain for many 16+ A-level students, you will be familiar with the horrors of slavery, and the problems of voice, representation and point of view in black literature. I'm always surprised that so many teachers recoil from teaching texts that may be harrowing. After all, the postmodern ennui that pervades so much of contemporary society does far more harm by turning away from our violent heritage and the continuation of hatred, exploitation and abuse across all societies today. If you have not come across it, I'd also strongly recommend reading Langston Hughes' How to be a Bad Writer (In Ten Easy Lesson) 1. Use all the clichés possible, such as “He had a gleam in his eye,” or ‘Her teeth were white as pearls.” 2. If you are a Negro, try very hard to write with an eye dead on the white market – use modern stereotypes of older stereotypes – big burly Negroes, crim

Everywhere humanity appears to be at war with itself. Yet we spend so much of our time with our mildly pained faces averted. Often we just don't know what to do. That's why creative writing really matters. It takes facts and documents them vividly. But writers also reconstruct life. By speaking out, writers re-invent the world in words. In doing this, they create new zones of possibility for liberation. Historically, the anti-slavery movement was very effective in using the printing press both to document and to imagine the life of a slave. For the critical reader these are often both historical works and timeless aesthetic creations. In most cases there will be limited perspectives and distortions of point of view. Voices stutter and stammer, and cover up, and style eloquently glosses, justifies and glorifies. Language offers enlightenment but also clouds judgments. There is much to be learned from reading a range of pro and anti-slavery texts. There are contradictio