106-455 Urban Entertainments 1700-1800

Usually admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth year honours in English, see Honours entry.

This subject introduces students to work in the history of show business and to one of the liveliest areas of 18th century studies. Students will explore the emergence of the modern culture of spectacle, of modern entertainment industries, as an important moment in the history of the high/low culture divide. Shows examined will include legitimate drama, ballad operas, pantomimes, magic shows and the phantasmagoria. The transformations in British forms of nationalism, sexuality and identity through the 18th century will provide a background for the subject. Students who successfully complete this subject should possess a general understanding of the development of show business in 18th century Britain; be informed on recent critical debates over the history of popular culture and performance; and have an understanding of how cultural studies, as a set of analytic methods, might apply to enlightenment show business.