Victorian Women and the Theatre of Trance : Mediums, Spiritualists and Mesmerists in Performance

Lehman, Amy

McFarland & Co Inc（2009/11発売）

• 製本 Paperback:紙装版/ペーパーバック版／ページ数 212 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9780786434794
• DDC分類 793.8

Full Description

Spiritualists in the nineteenth century spoke of a place they called the 'Borderland', a shadowy threshold where the living communed with the dead, and where those in the material realm could receive comfort or advice from another world. Drawing upon the skilled performances of mostly female actors and performers, the 'borderland' became a theatre, of sorts, in which dramas of revelation and recognition were produced in the forms of seances, trances, and spiritualist lectures. This book examines some of the most fascinating American and British actresses of the Victorian era, whose 'borderland' performances fairly mesmerized their audiences of amused skeptics and ardent believers. The book also focuses on the transformative possibilities of the spiritualist theatre, revealing how the performances allowed Victorian women to speak, act, and create outside the boundaries of their restricted social and psychological roles.