Page 1 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 1 of 315 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
Subset |
STAGE, CATHEDRAL, WAGON, STREET:
THE GROUNDS OF BELIEF IN SHAKESPEARE AND RENAISSANCE PERFORMANCE
by
Matthew J. Smith
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(ENGLISH)
December 2012
Copyright 2012 Matthew J. Smith
Object Description
| Title | Stage, cathedral, wagon, street: the grounds of belief in Shakespeare and Renaissance performance |
| Author | Smith, Matthew J. |
| Author email | matthew@matthewjsmith.net;matthew@matthewjsmith.net |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | English |
| School | College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2012-08-20 |
| Date submitted | 2012-09-13 |
| Date approved | 2012-09-13 |
| Restricted until | 2012-09-13 |
| Date published | 2012-09-13 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Smith, Bruce R. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
James, Heather Lemon, Rebecca Rollo, David Albertson, David |
| Abstract | ""Stage, Cathedral, Wagon, Street: The Grounds of Belief in Shakespeare and Renaissance Performance"" expands what counts as belief in historical performance. It explores how belief sounded, looked, and felt to audiences in Renaissance England. To this extent, my dissertation suggests a radical reorientation of the study of drama and religion. Most scholars study performed religion primarily in terms of how it was “represented” on stage: signified by certain verbal and visual images and decoded, in effect, by audiences. This approach has produced insightful material histories of religion but is limited both by its focus on allusion—re-presentation—and because it recognizes belief primarily where it can be corroborated by comparison to more conventional sites of religion, such as the church and established religious texts. I argue that belief existed at more basic experiential levels, in the perceptual habits of audiences, in the environmental “grounds” of the performance venue, and in what are often considered the mundane and marginal aspects of the playgoing experience—such as ambient distractions, acoustics, dramaturgical transparency, and even admission fees. The result is a depiction of communal belief that collaborated with its performative media. In essence, by studying the phenomenal conditions of historical performance through its props, spaces, and bodies, I am expanding belief beyond the confines of religion and into activities that were fundamental to attending a performance in Renaissance England. |
| Keyword | Shakespeare; drama; theater; performance; sermon; ballad; broadside; pageant; cycle play; Chester; corpus Christi play; mystery play; Henry V; Hamlet; John Donne; Philip Massinger; phenomenology; environment; belief; religion; Christianity; popular piety; popular culture; senses; body; stage; epistemology; ambience; dramaturgy; ceremony; conceit |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Smith, Matthew J. |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume4/etd-SmithMatth-1197.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | STAGE, CATHEDRAL, WAGON, STREET: THE GROUNDS OF BELIEF IN SHAKESPEARE AND RENAISSANCE PERFORMANCE by Matthew J. Smith A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ENGLISH) December 2012 Copyright 2012 Matthew J. Smith |
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 1
