Plays on the Passions (Broadview Literary Texts) [Paperback]

Joanna Baillie (Author), Peter Duthie (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1551111853 | ISBN-13: 978-1551111858 | Publication Date: February 19, 2001 | Edition: 1798 ed

Baillie’s eminently readable dramas stand at the crossroads of the Scottish Enlightenment and early Romanticism, and compellingly engage with questions of women’s rights. Her exploration of the passions, first published in 1798, is here reissued with a wealth of contextual materials including "The Introductory Discourse," Baillie’s own brand of feminist literary criticism. The three plays included here are "Count Basil: A Tragedy," and "The Tryal: A Comedy," which show love from opposing perspectives; and "De Monfort: A Tragedy," which explores the drama of hate. Among other appendices, the Broadview edition includes materials on the contemporary philosophical understanding of the passions, and contemporary reviews. Baillie’s work is enjoying a revival of interest. She lived a long life, (1762-1851), and had a wide circle of literary friends including Maria Edgeworth and Sir Walter Scott (who termed her a "female Shakespeare"). Scottish born, she moved to England in her twenties where she then resided. Her Plays on the Passions, alternatively known as A Series of Plays in which it is Attempted to Delineate the Stronger Passions of the Mind—Each Passion being the Subject of a Tragedy and Comedy was produced in three volumes between 1798 and 1812. The first volume created quite a stir amongst the literary circles of London and Edinburgh when introduced anonymously. The speculation into the authorship concluded two years later when Baillie came forward as the writer of the collection, thereby causing a subsequent sensation since no one had considered the shy spinster a candidate in the mystery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"At a time when serious scholars are reevaluating the merit and impact of Joanna Baillie’s work, we finally have an annotated edition of her first volume of A Series of Plays. Sound research is impossible without authoritative primary texts, and Peter Duthie provides judicious editing, pertinent annotations and important philosophical explanations to make this Baillie edition useful for researchers and general readers alike." (Judith Bailey Slagle, editor of The Collected Letters of Joanna Baillie )

"Peter Duthie has given teachers of romanticism and theater a gift; this elegant, accessible, and carefully contextualized edition of Joanna Baillie’s earliest plays is an invaluable resource for demonstrating the centrality of Baillie’s dramas to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century debates about women and performance, morality and the mind." (Catherine Burroughs )

From the Publisher

The Broadview Literary Texts series is an effort to represent the ever-changing canon of literature in English by bringing together texts long regarded as classics with valuable, lesser-known literature. Newly type-set and produced on high-quality paper in trade paperback format, the Broadview Literary Texts series is a delight to handle as well as to read.

Each volume includes a full introduction, chronology, bibliography, and explanatory notes along with a variety of documents from the period, giving readers a rich sense of the world from which the work emerged.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 474 pages
• Publisher: Broadview Press; 1798 ed edition (February 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551111853
• ISBN-13: 978-1551111858
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,382 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.