Overview

""The Contrast"", which premiered at New York City's John Street Theater in 1787, was the first American play performed in public by a professional theater company. The play, written by New England-born, Harvard-educated, Royall Tyler was timely, funny, and extremely popular. When the play appeared in print in 1790, George Washington himself appeared at the head of its list of hundreds of subscribers. Reprinted here with annotated footnotes by historian Cynthia A. Kierner, Tyler's play explores the debate over manners, morals, and cultural authority in the decades following American Revolution. Did the American colonists' rejection of monarchy in 1776 mean they should abolish all European social traditions and hierarchies? What sorts of etiquette, amusements, and fashions were appropriate and beneficial? Most important, to be a nation, did Americans need to distinguish themselves from Europeans—and, if so, how? Tyler was not the only American pondering these questions, and Kierner situates the play in its broader historical and cultural contexts. An extensive introduction provides readers with a background on life and politics in the United States in 1787, when Americans were in the midst of nation-building. The book also features a section with selections from contemporary letters, essays, novels, conduct books, and public documents, which debate issues of the era.

Full Product Details

Author:   Cynthia A. Kierner
Publisher:   New York University Press
Imprint:   New York University Press
Edition:   annotated edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.227kg
ISBN:  

9780814747933

ISBN 10:   0814747930
Pages:   277
Publication Date:   01 April 2007
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

ContentsList of Illustrations Preface1 Introduction 2 The Contrast by Royall Tyler 3 Primary Documents A. Arts and Literature in Post-Revolutionary America B. Virtues and Vices of the Theater C. Lord Chester?eld and His Critics D. The Follies of FashionE. The Ideal WifeF. The Ideal Husband G. Educating American YouthH. The Meaning of Equality Suggested Reading Index About the Author IllustrationsAdvertisement for The Contrast, 1787 Frontispiece from the Columbian Magazine, 1789 The Declaration of Independence, by John Trumbull, 1787 Royall Tyler Plan of the City of New York, 1789 George Washington, by Jean-Antoine Houdon, 1785-1792 Title page from The Contrast, 1790 Frontispiece from The Contrast, 1790 Miss Carolina Sullivan, 1776 The Toilet, 1786 A Morning Ramble, or, The Milliner's Shop, 1782 The Copley Family, by John Singleton Copley, 1776-1777 The Washington Family, by Edward Savage, 1789-1796

Reviews

This powerful and lively package of primary materials and historical context will demonstrate how historical 'forces' play themselves out on the ground. Kierner's collection offers a fresh lens on a new world struggling into being and will inspire teachers and students of all ages alike. -Catherine Allgor,author of A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation The Contrast makes a real contribution to the existing scholarship on this period, it has great appeal for classroom use, and it puts back in print an amusing play that is instrumental in understanding critical issues in the new nation. The play The Contrast centers on gender roles, relations, and expectations, mocking the gender stereotypes of the day and is a rich source for understanding a host of political and social issues in the Early Republic. It is funnyeven to a modern audienceand replete with literary references. -Charlene M. Boyer Lewis,author of Ladies and Gentlemen on Display: Planter Society at the Virginia Springs, 1790-1860 I can think of no other text of the period that lays out the drive toward transparency more clearly or denigrates coquettes and libertines more entertainingly. The play is a pivotal piece of American cultural history. -Norma Basch,author of Framing American Divorce: From the Revolutionary Generation to the Victorians & Kierner's new edition of this play should win it a much wider modern audience. Kierner highlights the many historical themes of the play with a fine introduction and facilitates deeper understanding of those issues with a wonderfully chosen set of additional primary documents. The resulting book could be used with profit in any early American history course. -The North Carolina Historical Review

This powerful and lively package of primary materials and historical context will demonstrate how historical 'forces' play themselves out on the ground. Kierner's collection offers a fresh lens on a new world struggling into being and will inspire teachers and students of all ages alike. - Catherine Allgor, author of A Perfect Union: Dolly Madison and the Creation of the American Nation

Author Information

Cynthia A. Kierner is professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is the author of Scandal at Bizarre: Rumor and Reputation in Jefferson's America and Revolutionary America: Sources and Interpretation.

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