Contemporary Representations and Perceptions II
Introduction
This is the second of two seminars in which we examine the primary sources for early modern crime and punishment. This week we will look at novels, ballads, opera, plays, and images.
Seminar Questions
How are early modern crimes and punishments represented in novels, ballads, opera, plays, and images?
What do novels, ballads, opera, plays, and visual images reveal about contemporary perceptions of early modern crime and punishment?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of these sources for the historian of crime and punishment in early modern Europe?
Required Reading
Each student should choose and analyse an image of a crime or a punishment produced in Europe between c. 1500 and c. 1750 from the British Museum Collections OnlineLink opens in a new window.
Each student should also read EITHER Moll FlandersLink opens in a new window [Author's Preface and 30 pages of your choice] OR Jonathan WildLink opens in a new window [Choose three chapters] OR The Beggar's OperaLink opens in a new window AND one of the other items below:
Behrmann, Carolin, ed., Images of Shame: Infamy, Defamation and the Ethics of oeconomiaLink opens in a new window (Berlin, 2016)
Böker, Uwe, Ines Detmers and Anna-Christina Giovanopoulos, eds, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, 1728-2004: Adaptations and Re-WritingsLink opens in a new window (Amsterdam, 2006) [Choose one chapter]
Chartier, Roger, 'The Literature of Roguery in the Bibliothèque bleue' in Roger Chartier, The Cultural Uses of Print in Early Modern FranceLink opens in a new window, trans. Lydia G. Cochrane (Princeton, NJ, 1988), pp. 265-342.
Clark, Sandra, Women and Crime in the Street Literature of Early Modern EnglandLink opens in a new window (Houndmills, 2003) [Choose one chapter]
Cormack, Bradin, et al., eds, Shakespeare and the LawLink opens in a new window (Chicago, 2013) [Choose one chapter]
Dean, Trevor, Crime and Justice in Late Medieval ItalyLink opens in a new window (Cambridge, 2007), Chapter Three 'Fiction'.
Defoe, Daniel, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll FlandersLink opens in a new window (1722; London, 1921) [Other editions are available]
Fielding, Henry, The History of the Life of the Late Mr. Jonathan Wild the GreatLink opens in a new window (1743; Boston, 1889) [Other editions are available]
Garrido Ardila, J. A., (ed.), The Picaresque Novel in Western Literature: From the Sixteenth Century to the NeopicaresqueLink opens in a new window (Cambridge, 2015) [Choose one chapter]
Gaskill, Malcolm, Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern EnglandLink opens in a new window (Cambridge, 2000), Chapter Six.
Gay, John, The Beggar's OperaLink opens in a new window (1728; London, 1923) [Other editions are available]
Gladfelder, Hal, Criminality and Narrative in Eighteenth-century EnglandLink opens in a new window (Baltimore, 2001) [Choose one chapter]
Gladfelder, Hal, 'Theatre of Blood: On the Criminal Trial as Tale of Terror', in David Lemmings and Allyson N. May, eds, Criminal Justice During the Long Eighteenth Century: Theatre, Representation and EmotionLink opens in a new window (Abingdon, 2018), pp. 153-76.
McIlvenna, Una, Singing the News of Death: Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window (Oxford, 2022)
Raffield, Paul, ed., Shakespeare and the LawLink opens in a new window (Oxford, 2008) [Choose one chapter]
Rosenthal, Laura J., Infamous Commerce : Prostitution in Eighteenth-Century British Literature and CultureLink opens in a new window (Ithaca, NY, 2015), Introduction
Salzberg, Rosa, and Massimo Rospocher, 'Murder Ballads' in Trevor Dean and K. J. P. Lowe, eds, Murder in Renaissance ItalyLink opens in a new window (Cambridge, 2017), pp. 164-186
Tarlow, Sarah, and Emma Battell Lowman, Harnessing the Power of the Criminal CorpseLink opens in a new window (New York, 2018), Chapter Eight.
Wiltenburg, Joy, Crime and Culture in Early Modern GermanyLink opens in a new window (Charlottesville, VA, 2012) [Choose one chapter]
Zayas y Sotomayor, María de, The Disenchantments of LoveLink opens in a new window, ed. and trans. H. Patsy Boyer (Albany, NY, 1997) [Introduction and choose one of the tales]
Zayas y Sotomayor, María de, Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of DisillusionLink opens in a new window, ed. and trans. Margaret R. Greer and Elizabeth Rhodes (Chicago, 2009) [Introduction and choose one of the tales of disillusion]
Further Reading
Fielding, Henry, The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wild the GreatLink opens in a new window, ed. Hugh Amory et al. (Oxford, 2008)
Gray, Drew D., Crime, Policing and Punishment in England, 1660-1914Link opens in a new window (London, 2016), Chapter Two.
Martin, Randall, Women, Murder, and Equity in Early Modern EnglandLink opens in a new window (Abingdon, 2008)
Shakespeare, William, The Complete Arden ShakespeareLink opens in a new window, ed. Ann Thompson et al. (London, 2010)
Symonds, Deborah A., Weep Not For Me: Women, Ballads and Infanticide in Early Modern Scotland (Pennslyvania, 1997)
Electronic Resources
A scene from John Gay, The Beggar's Opera, dir. Jonathan Miller (1983)Link opens in a new window
The British Museum Collection OnlineLink opens in a new window
Broadside Ballads OnlineLink opens in a new window
Early English Books OnlineLink opens in a new window
Eighteenth Century Collections OnlineLink opens in a new window
English Broadside Ballad ArchiveLink opens in a new window