Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton

In the short period between 1837, when Queen Victoria came to the throne, and 1843, when the Theatre Regulation Act amended the Licensing Act of 1737 and thus reconfigured theatrical freedom and production in the United Kingdom, the fruitful collaboration of renowned novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton an...

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Main Author: Ana Fernández-Caparrós Turina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2017-11-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3303
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author Ana Fernández-Caparrós Turina
author_facet Ana Fernández-Caparrós Turina
author_sort Ana Fernández-Caparrós Turina
collection DOAJ
description In the short period between 1837, when Queen Victoria came to the throne, and 1843, when the Theatre Regulation Act amended the Licensing Act of 1737 and thus reconfigured theatrical freedom and production in the United Kingdom, the fruitful collaboration of renowned novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton and actor and theatrical manager William Charles Macready would prove to be decisive in shaping early Victorian drama and setting high standards in production and artistic integrity, which would be followed by successive managers. Both in the pursuit of the theatrical reforms that were advocated by Bulwer as a Whig member of parliament and in his new venture into dramatic writing, the author relied heavily on French models. The article analyses the French influence in Bulwer’s first dramas that composed his cycle of French history plays, The Duchess de la Vallière (1837), The Lady of Lyons, or Love and Pride (1838) and Richelieu, or The Conspiracy (1839). Beyond using French sources and setting the action of these plays in France, the inspiration from French culture and history crucially imbued Bulwer with a sense of freedom to essay his peculiar and intuitive conflation of politics and romance. This freedom is especially the case in Bulwer’s first works, for which after the revolutionary experience, a French context became the most suitable framework to articulate liberal ideas, to reflect the creation of a modern consciousness that was represented by the rise of the people and to connect these interests with the theatrical portrayal of manners, passion and sentiment.
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spelling doaj-art-94b610cf2e1641d58ae247c31174593b2025-01-30T10:22:03ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492017-11-018610.4000/cve.3303Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-LyttonAna Fernández-Caparrós TurinaIn the short period between 1837, when Queen Victoria came to the throne, and 1843, when the Theatre Regulation Act amended the Licensing Act of 1737 and thus reconfigured theatrical freedom and production in the United Kingdom, the fruitful collaboration of renowned novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton and actor and theatrical manager William Charles Macready would prove to be decisive in shaping early Victorian drama and setting high standards in production and artistic integrity, which would be followed by successive managers. Both in the pursuit of the theatrical reforms that were advocated by Bulwer as a Whig member of parliament and in his new venture into dramatic writing, the author relied heavily on French models. The article analyses the French influence in Bulwer’s first dramas that composed his cycle of French history plays, The Duchess de la Vallière (1837), The Lady of Lyons, or Love and Pride (1838) and Richelieu, or The Conspiracy (1839). Beyond using French sources and setting the action of these plays in France, the inspiration from French culture and history crucially imbued Bulwer with a sense of freedom to essay his peculiar and intuitive conflation of politics and romance. This freedom is especially the case in Bulwer’s first works, for which after the revolutionary experience, a French context became the most suitable framework to articulate liberal ideas, to reflect the creation of a modern consciousness that was represented by the rise of the people and to connect these interests with the theatrical portrayal of manners, passion and sentiment.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3303Bulwer-Lytton (Edward)The Duchess de la VallìereThe Lady of LyonsVictorian drama
spellingShingle Ana Fernández-Caparrós Turina
Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Bulwer-Lytton (Edward)
The Duchess de la Vallìere
The Lady of Lyons
Victorian drama
title Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton
title_full Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton
title_fullStr Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton
title_full_unstemmed Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton
title_short Rise of Love and the People: French Matter and Manner in the Early Victorian Drama of Edward Bulwer-Lytton
title_sort rise of love and the people french matter and manner in the early victorian drama of edward bulwer lytton
topic Bulwer-Lytton (Edward)
The Duchess de la Vallìere
The Lady of Lyons
Victorian drama
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/3303
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