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Masculinity and National Identity on the Early American Stage
Author(s) -
Chinn Sarah E.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
literature compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.158
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1741-4113
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2011.00872.x
Subject(s) - masculinity , identity (music) , drama , national identity , ideal (ethics) , reading (process) , history , gender studies , literature , art , psychoanalysis , sociology , psychology , aesthetics , law , political science , politics
This essay explores how the early American stage functioned as an incubator for ideas about national identity, artistic expression, and masculinity. Reading four plays from the early years of the Republic – Royall Tyler’s The Contrast , William Dunlap’s André , John Augustus Stone’s Metamora , and Robert Montgomery Bird’s The Gladiator , I demonstrate how early American drama addressed changing concepts of ideal masculinity, republican democracy, and the colonial past.