"Everyman" as actor on life's stage has been a recurrent theme in popular literature--epecially persuasive in these times of powerful electronic media, celebrity hype, and professional image-makers--but the great Victorians exuded sincerity. Nina Auerbach reminds us that all lives can be subversive performances. Charting the notable impact of the theater and theatricality on the Victorian imagination, she provocatively reexamines the concept of sincerity and authenticity as literary ideal. In novels, popular fiction, and biographies, Auerbach unveils the theatrical element in lives imagined and represented. Focusing on three major points in the life cycle--childhood, passage to maturity, and death--she demonstrates how the process of living was for Victorians the acting of a role; only dying generated a creature with an "own self." Her discussion draws not only on theater history, but on demonology-the ghosts and monsters so much a part of the nineteenth-century imagination. Nina Auerbach has written a closely reasoned and stimulating book for everyone interested in the Victorian age, and everyone interested in theatricality---whether private or on the stage.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1875.

"Everyman" as actor on life's stage has been a recurrent theme in popular literature--epecially persuasive in these times of powerful electronic media, celebrity hype, and professional image-makers--but the great Victorians exuded sincerity. Nina Auerbach reminds us that all lives can be subversive performances. Charting the notable impact of the theater and theatricality on the Victorian imagination, she provocatively reexamines the concept of sincerity and authenticity as literary ideal. In novels, popular fiction, and biographies, Auerbach unveils the theatrical element in lives imagined and represented. Focusing on three major points in the life cycle--childhood, passage to maturity, and death--she demonstrates how the process of living was for Victorians the acting of a role; only dying generated a creature with an "own self." Her discussion draws not only on theater history, but on demonology-the ghosts and monsters so much a part of the nineteenth-century imagination. Nina Auerbach has written a closely reasoned and stimulating book for everyone interested in the Victorian age, and everyone interested in theatricality---whether private or on the stage.

Bijou, Paramount, Loew's, Fox -- the names themselves conjure up rich carpeting, heavily curtained prosceniums, and gilded carvings. Though the glittering movie palaces of the past have for the most part vanished, their appeal endures, and today they are being built anew on a more intimate scale. This illustrated book affords an unprecedented look at the magnificent private theaters created throughout the United States by New York-based designer Theo Kalomirakis.Twelve years after the Greek-born, movie-mad Kalomirakis came to New York in 1974, he built a small but fully realized movie theater -- "the Roxy" -- in the basement of his Brooklyn brownstone. Today he custom-designs sumptuous private cinemas complete with neon marquees, ticket booths, and foyers for an exclusive clientele, blending exciting architecture and interior design with state-of-the-art technology.Kalomirakis combines his clients' tastes, memories, and fantasies with the splendor and spirit of the past. Showcased here are a businessman's sentimental gift to his wife and a famous actor's retreat from the limelight, along with other stunningly original creations. Kalomirakis' theaters provide a feast for the senses, and the stories behind them offer a peek at the most privileged lifestyles.

This volume examines Charles Dibdin's extraordinarily wide-ranging career as an actor, lyricist, composer, singer-songwriter, comedian, theatre-manager, journalist, artist, music tutor, speculator, and author, and offers fresh insights into late Georgian culture, society, and politics.