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While the history of American theatre has been widely documented, the history of its female reviewers has been routinely overlooked. This book seeks to correct that oversight by exploring the role of the great female American critics, thereby expanding their canonical status. The anthology provides a brief description of the women's lives, their working conditions, samples of their writing, and supporting analyses. For some readers, this will be a first encounter with women who deserve to be represented in the American theatre of their times and recognized for their contributions to the development of dramatic theory and criticism.
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American Women Theatre Critics
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American Women Theatre Critics Biographies and Selected Writings of Twelve Reviewers, 1753 –1919 ALMA J. BENNETT
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
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CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Bennett, Alma. American women theatre critics : biographies and selected writings of twelve reviewers, 1753–1919 / Alma J. Bennett. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7864-4979-8 softcover : 50# alkaline paper 1. Women theatre critics — United States — Biography. 2. Dramatic criticism — United States — History. 3. Theater — United States — History. 4. Drama — History and criticism. I. Title. PN1707.9B46 2010 791.43092' 2 — dc22 2010017962 British Library cataloguing data are available ©2010 Alma J. Bennett. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Front cover: Annie Nathan Meyer (Barnard College Archives); background images ©2010 Shutterstock Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments I would like to thank my husband, Paul, for his patience and encouragement during the long months of my intermittent spells of research and writing. My thanks go also to Rosemarie Bank of Kent State University for igniting my interest in women drama critics. Especially, I would like to thank Ms. Kelly Bracey, the entire interlibrary loan staff of Alderson-Broaddus College, for her assistance in locating obscure books, newspapers and journals needed for my research. Finally, my thanks go my colleagues and good friends, Bud Kelley and Gary Schubert, who came to my aid when the computer wouldn’t do what I thought it should. My heartfelt gratitude to you all!
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Table of Contents Acknowledgments
vii
Preface
1
Introduction
3
18th-Century Critics 1 • Charlotte Ramsey Lennox [1720–1804]
11
2 • Judith Sargent Murray [1751–1820]
25
19th-Century Critics 3 • Kate Field [1838–1896]
43
4 • Olive Logan [1839–1909]
61
5 • Mildred Aldrich [1853–1928]
75
6 • Dorothy Lundt [1855–1908] and Emma V. Sheridan [1864–1936]
88
7 • Amy Leslie [1855–1939]
103
8 • Lucy Monroe [1865–1950]
120
20th-Century Critics 9 • Ada Patterson [1867–1939]
131
10 • Annie Nathan Meyer [1867–1951]
144
11 • Dorothy Rothschild Parker [1898–1967]
157
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viii
Table of Contents
Chapter Notes
177
Bibliography
181
Index
185
Preface An examination of anthologies of drama criticism reveals a glaring absence of women critics. T