Roger Sales

William Shakespeare, Much Ado about Nothing

First published in 1983, English Literature in History, 1780-1830 is an original and provocative study of the literature of the Romantic period with an introduction by Raymond Williams. Roger Sales concentrates his analysis on two related themes. The first, the politics of pastoral, analyses the use of this genre by both established writers and poets who were enormously popular in their time, but who are now less well known. The author argues that all literary treatments of rural society in this period make political statements, particularly when they displace or disguise the economic facts of life. His second theme, the theatre of politics, introduces the reader to some of the main political events of the period, and demonstrates how their form and presentation can illuminate some of the literature of the period. This book will be of interest to students and teachers of English literature.

Pastoral and Politics

English Literature in History, 1780-1830

This study locates Marlowe's career as dramatist and spy within the stage-play world of Elizabethan society. It also reconstructs the roles that spectators played in the choreography of power. It then shows how religious and political hostility towards the Elizabethan public theatres was based on fears that they offered competing spaces for spectacle. It is argued that Marlowe's major plays confirm such fears since they often debate official positions. This encourages spectators to enter into their own dialogues with authority. Relationships between the drama and the dramatised society are explored further through a consideration of such topics as punishment, gender, sexuality, colonisation, witchcraft and diseases.

Christopher Marlowe

Jonathan Bate

Robert Heyes

Sam Ward

Bill Phillips

Carry Akroyd

Bridget Keegan

Kelsey Thornton

Misty Beck

Kim Taplin

The official Journal of the John Clare Society, published annually to reflect the interest in, and approaches to, the life and work of the poet John Clare.

John Clare Society Journal, 21 (2002)

In Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England, Roger Sales looks at Jane Austen's entire oeuve, and views her historically as a Regency writer voicing concerns on the condition of England. Examining Austen's literary works; her letters - in the context of those of other Regency women; as well as contemporary texts such as television adaptations of her work, Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England reconstructs the breadth of Jane Austen's writing. It also examines: * her representations of dandyism and masculine identities * the events of the Regency crisis of 1810-12 * the way in which Austen engaged in topical debates such as healthcare in both Emma and Persuasion.

Jane Austen and Representations of Regency England

Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Roger Sales

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