ENGLISH

Performing Libertinism in Charles II's Court: Politics, Drama, Sexuality

By Jeremy Webster

Book information

Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
Year
2005
ISBN
9781403967190, 9781403980281, 1403967199
DOI
10.1057/9781403980281
LCC
PR698.L52 W43 2005
Open Library ID
OL22634399M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1411559 bytes)
Edition
First Edition
Pages
264\263
Time added
2011-04-20 14:05:05
British and Irish Literature; Nineteenth-Century L

Description

Performing Libertinism in Charles II's Court: Politics, Drama, Sexuality examines the performative nature of Restoration libertinism by reading reports of libertine activities and texts of libertine plays within the context of the fraternization between George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, Sir Charles Sedley, Sir George Etherege, and William Wycherley. Webster argues that libertines, both real and imagined, performed traditionally secretive acts, including excessive drinking, sex, sedition, and sacrilege, in the public sphere. This eruption of the private into the public challenged a Stuart ideology that distinguished between the nation's public life and the king's and his subjects' private consciences. Although this eruption was contained by the early 1680s, the libertine performances this book analyzes nevertheless played an important part in the history of English radicalism.

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