George Lippard's 'Theatre of Hell': Apocalyptic Melodrama and Working-Class Spectatorship in the Quaker City

In a January, 1842, article for Philadelphia's Democratic paper The Spirit of the Times, the author George Lippard depicts a visit from a "bona fide spirit, with a tail and two horns." The devilish creature bestows upon Lippard's city-reporter alter ego, "Flib," a magic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:J19 Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 205 - 237
Main Author: D'Alessandro, Michael
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Philadelphia Johns Hopkins University Press 01.10.2017
Subjects:
American literature
Armed forces
Children
Cities
Culture
Death & dying
Fiction
History
Labor unions
Lippard, George (1822-1854)
Literary criticism
Manual workers
Melodramas
Monks
Novels
Occupations
Self concept
Social classes
Social order
Spectatorship
Theater
Working class
Writers
United States > US
Philadelphia Pennsylvania
New York
ISSN:2166-742X, 2166-7438, 2166-7438
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In a January, 1842, article for Philadelphia's Democratic paper The Spirit of the Times, the author George Lippard depicts a visit from a "bona fide spirit, with a tail and two horns." The devilish creature bestows upon Lippard's city-reporter alter ego, "Flib," a magical ring that "renders the wearer invisible" and allows him to observe silently the secret exchanges and exploitations of antebellum Philadelphia. Previous Lippard scholars have acknowledged a link between the author's work and theater, particularly the period's dominant theatrical genre of melodrama. Here, D'Alessandro argues that via central set-pieces throughout Quaker City, Lippard attempts to invoke working-class spectatorial experiences and hence to unite a community of diverse workers within a failing Philadelphia social order.
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ISSN:2166-742X
2166-7438
2166-7438
DOI:10.1353/jnc.2017.0013