"Self-Praise and Dramatic Patronage: The Practice of Dedications in the Restoration Theatre (1660-1700)"

The practice of dedications was widespread in printed playtexts during the second half of the 17th century in England. The support of the great was paramount, given the precarious situation of professional playwrights. Their earnings consisted only in the third-night benefit and the payment for publ...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Rodríguez Loro, Nora
Tipo de recurso: capítulo de libro
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2018
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repositorio:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/156995
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/156995
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:dedications
patronage
seventeenth-century drama
Restoration theatre
self-praise
5505.10 Filología
5506.13 Historia de la Literatura
Descripción
Sumario:The practice of dedications was widespread in printed playtexts during the second half of the 17th century in England. The support of the great was paramount, given the precarious situation of professional playwrights. Their earnings consisted only in the third-night benefit and the payment for publication rights. Dedications afforded authors an occasion to cement patronage relations by making them public, derive new profits, enhance their prestige, or even try to compensate for the lack of success on the stage. The present work analyses one of the strategies most often employed for this purpose in dedicatory epistles, the resort to self-praise, focusing on references to acclaim and marks of favour shown by either the dedicatee or other influential people.