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...
Saved in:
| Published in: | J19 Vol. 5; no. 2; pp. 205 - 237 |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Philadelphia
Johns Hopkins University Press
01.10.2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| ISSN: | 2166-742X, 2166-7438, 2166-7438 |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Abstract | 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. |
|---|---|
| AbstractList | 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. Flib's first destination is an unnamed theater, where he observes the manager refusing to pay an actress's salary, even as "a flood of tears . . . roll[s] down her worn and wasted features" and she describes her starving child at home.1 Two years later, Lippard graduated from penny-press reporting but continued his efforts to expose social villains in his sensation novel The Quaker City; Or the Monks of Monk Hall (1844-45). Previously reliant on British theatrical models, the United States produced more dramas by American playwrights from 1829 to 1849 than in any equivalent period before 1870.4 By the 1830s, too, ticket prices had been lowered to make theatergoing affordable to all social groups, and the working classes especially. Lippard's Philadelphia: Class Anxieties and the Working-Class Theater From his newspaper writings in the early 1840s to his death in 1853, Lippard became an increasingly vocal advocate for the American working class.13 He began his journalism career shortly after the Panic of 1837, an economic crash that decimated the artisan system and resulted in a lopsided distribution of urban wealth.14 Writing from 1842 to 1843 for the local papers Spirit of the Times and Citizen Soldier, Lippard most often targeted crooked bank directors after the post-Panic bank failures left many ordinary citizens penniless.15 One of Lippard's early pieces depicts a mechanic shuffling through his suddenly valueless bank notes, while another article portrays bank directors secretly plotting to deny the poor and evict widows.16 As David Reynolds notes, Lippard became increasingly attuned to worker issues as his career progressed. Not only did he offer narratives that exposed the dreadful conditions of factory work or the terrors of starvation but he also sought to change literary approaches to these subjects.20 Though Lippard "consistently envisioned himself as writing for the mass audience," according to Erickson, the author's actual readership remains under debate.21 Michael Denning suggests that readers of city-mystery fiction like Lippard's were "the working people of the city,"22 but subsequent studies by Isabelle Lehuu and Barbara Sicherman suggest that a wider readership existed for penny papers, sensation fiction, and associated genres.23 While Quaker City's best-selling numbers nearly ensured that a diverse group of citizens read the novel, periodical reviews indicate that Lippard at least reached his intended working-class audience among others. |
| Author | D'Alessandro, Michael |
| Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Michael surname: D'Alessandro fullname: D'Alessandro, Michael |
| BookMark | eNp9kU1LAzEQhoNUUKtH7wEPPW3N137EWynaChWRVvQWxuzUbt1u1mR76L83i6I3c5kwPLwDz3tGBo1rkJBLzsZcpvJ629ixYDwfM8blETkVPMuSXMli8PsXryfkIoQti68QqU7VKaln6Pw70kXVtuDLUaCj1Qah80jdms6xrkc3dNI6C_Wh7SpLH7B2pYcdUGhK-uL8R9W8J9MaQqDLFm0HnfNhU7W0ami3Qfq0hw_0dFp1h3NyvIY64MXPHJLnu9vVdJ4sHmf308kisUKoLhEcCqkLbkuU9i2HVABHYHGjUOdpUaAUZamBK_aGgkkrLILiZSFLYaXSckiuvnNb7z73GDqzdXvfxJNGpEqzLHpS_1Fc51opzQsWqeSbst6F4HFtWl_twB8MZ6Y3b6J505s3vfnIq9_UbdSx2wf8C87yjKeZWfaN9OXwXMQyRCq_AC33hrk |
| ContentType | Journal Article |
| Copyright | C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists Copyright University of Pennsylvania Press Fall 2017 |
| Copyright_xml | – notice: C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists – notice: Copyright University of Pennsylvania Press Fall 2017 |
| DBID | AAYXX CITATION 7XB AFKRA AIMQZ AZQEC BENPR CCPQU DWQXO GNUQQ GUQSH LIQON M2O MBDVC PADUT PHGZM PHGZT PKEHL PMKZF PQEST PQQKQ PQUKI PRINS Q9U |
| DOI | 10.1353/jnc.2017.0013 |
| DatabaseName | CrossRef ProQuest Central (purchase pre-March 2016) ProQuest Central UK/Ireland ProQuest One Literature ProQuest Central Essentials ProQuest Central ProQuest One Community College ProQuest Central ProQuest Central Student ProQuest Research Library ProQuest One Literature Research Library Research Library (Corporate) Research Library China ProQuest Central Premium ProQuest One Academic (New) ProQuest One Academic Middle East (New) ProQuest Digital Collections ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition (DO NOT USE) ProQuest One Academic (retired) ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition ProQuest Central China ProQuest Central Basic |
| DatabaseTitle | CrossRef ProQuest One Literature - U.S. Customers Only Research Library Prep ProQuest Central Student ProQuest One Academic Middle East (New) ProQuest Central Basic ProQuest One Literature ProQuest Central Essentials ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition ProQuest One Community College ProQuest Central China ProQuest Central ProQuest Digital Collections ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition ProQuest Central Korea ProQuest Research Library Research Library China ProQuest Central (New) ProQuest One Academic ProQuest One Academic (New) |
| DatabaseTitleList | ProQuest One Literature - U.S. Customers Only |
| Database_xml | – sequence: 1 dbid: BENPR name: ProQuest Central url: https://www.proquest.com/central sourceTypes: Aggregation Database |
| DeliveryMethod | fulltext_linktorsrc |
| Discipline | Languages & Literatures |
| EISSN | 2166-7438 |
| EndPage | 237 |
| ExternalDocumentID | 10_1353_jnc_2017_0013 676156_S2166743817200025 |
| Genre | Feature |
| GeographicLocations | United States--US Philadelphia Pennsylvania New York |
| GeographicLocations_xml | – name: Philadelphia Pennsylvania – name: United States--US – name: New York |
| GroupedDBID | .UT 3V. 4.4 42H 5VS 709 AAMFL AAVNP ABECW ACMKW ADWTG AEHYH AERNI AFKRA AFZQM AHXIS AIMQZ ALMA_UNASSIGNED_HOLDINGS AMBIC ANBFE AZQEC BCQSU BDXDF BENPR BPHCQ CCPQU DWQXO EBS EBTJD EJD FOMLG GNUQQ GUQSH HVGLF LIQON M2O MBR MSI MUP MUS PADUT PQQKQ PROAC RC6 AAWJA AAYXX ACDWB ADPSH ADTUW AFFHD AICOQ CITATION H13 PAQYV PHGZM PHGZT PMKZF 7XB MBDVC PKEHL PQEST PQUKI PRINS Q9U |
| ID | FETCH-LOGICAL-c224t-21a83981cde3cb7a52a1ea09814e97588e32dd9a140be203c2cea41d83d2c3493 |
| IEDL.DBID | BENPR |
| ISICitedReferencesCount | 2 |
| ISICitedReferencesURI | http://www.webofscience.com/api/gateway?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=Summon&SrcAuth=ProQuest&DestLinkType=CitingArticles&DestApp=WOS_CPL&KeyUT=000418750700003&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D |
| ISSN | 2166-742X 2166-7438 |
| IngestDate | Sun Nov 09 05:34:09 EST 2025 Sun Jul 13 05:15:51 EDT 2025 Sat Nov 29 05:35:54 EST 2025 Thu Jul 04 04:52:44 EDT 2024 |
| IsPeerReviewed | true |
| IsScholarly | true |
| Issue | 2 |
| Language | English |
| LinkModel | DirectLink |
| MergedId | FETCHMERGED-LOGICAL-c224t-21a83981cde3cb7a52a1ea09814e97588e32dd9a140be203c2cea41d83d2c3493 |
| Notes | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 ObjectType-Feature-1 |
| PQID | 2549060174 |
| PQPubID | 2031843 |
| PageCount | 33 |
| ParticipantIDs | proquest_journals_2549060174 proquest_journals_1979449180 crossref_primary_10_1353_jnc_2017_0013 projectmuse_journals_676156_S2166743817200025 |
| PublicationCentury | 2000 |
| PublicationDate | 20171001 |
| PublicationDateYYYYMMDD | 2017-10-01 |
| PublicationDate_xml | – month: 10 year: 2017 text: 20171001 day: 01 |
| PublicationDecade | 2010 |
| PublicationPlace | Philadelphia |
| PublicationPlace_xml | – name: Philadelphia |
| PublicationTitle | J19 |
| PublicationYear | 2017 |
| Publisher | Johns Hopkins University Press |
| Publisher_xml | – name: Johns Hopkins University Press |
| RelatedPersons | Lippard, George (1822-1854) |
| RelatedPersons_xml | – fullname: Lippard, George (1822-1854) |
| SSID | ssj0000825954 |
| Score | 2.0181148 |
| Snippet | 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,... Flib's first destination is an unnamed theater, where he observes the manager refusing to pay an actress's salary, even as "a flood of tears . . . roll[s] down... |
| SourceID | proquest crossref projectmuse |
| SourceType | Aggregation Database Index Database Publisher |
| StartPage | 205 |
| SubjectTerms | 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 |
| Title | George Lippard's 'Theatre of Hell': Apocalyptic Melodrama and Working-Class Spectatorship in the Quaker City |
| URI | https://muse.jhu.edu/article/676156 https://www.proquest.com/docview/1979449180 https://www.proquest.com/docview/2549060174 |
| Volume | 5 |
| WOSCitedRecordID | wos000418750700003&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com%2F%23%21%2Fsearch%3Fho%3Df%26include.ft.matches%3Dt%26l%3Dnull%26q%3D |
| hasFullText | 1 |
| inHoldings | 1 |
| isFullTextHit | |
| isPrint | |
| journalDatabaseRights | – providerCode: PRVPQU databaseName: ProQuest Central customDbUrl: eissn: 2166-7438 dateEnd: 20241207 omitProxy: false ssIdentifier: ssj0000825954 issn: 2166-742X databaseCode: BENPR dateStart: 20130401 isFulltext: true titleUrlDefault: https://www.proquest.com/central providerName: ProQuest – providerCode: PRVPQU databaseName: Research Library customDbUrl: eissn: 2166-7438 dateEnd: 20241207 omitProxy: false ssIdentifier: ssj0000825954 issn: 2166-742X databaseCode: M2O dateStart: 20130401 isFulltext: true titleUrlDefault: https://search.proquest.com/pqrl providerName: ProQuest |
| link | http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMwpV1Nb9NAEB3RlAOXUr4DbTWqUDmtmv2w18ulaqtWHNJQoKDcrPXuRiqkTrBTJP49O86mLQJx4er1YaU3npk3M34D8JosxeVGM5NrzVSoPLPCO-adUjbX3pmu0f5lqEejYjw256ng1qaxypVP7By1nzmqke8TkSHtEK0O5t8ZbY2i7mpaobEG66RUpnqwfnQyOv94U2UhAmS6VWiC5zmLPHCchDZlJve_1iRiyEnEkMvfAtPdOsgfXroLPacP__fSm7CRkk48XFrJI7gX6sfwfJhKlS3u4fBGXbl9AtNloRxJvCEa0JsWdy_IZzcBZxOMgWq6-xYP5xQFf0aP4_AsTGe-sVcWbe0x1d9Zt28TacH9gpg9jYXhZY0x48QP1_ZbaPA4UoCn8Pn05OL4HUtbGZiL4X7BBLcxqSq480G6SttMWB7sID5RwUT2UQQpvDc2MrcqiGgJwgWruC-kF04qI59Br57V4QVgZQMfTCbOeiVVnrnKZzEhCQPjAjV9XB_2VpCU86X4Rtl14DJZRuxKwo6G8mQf2B3AyvQZtmWuY8KWl58IfE1iZpr-TBJZH7ZWeN2-zE30TcrwYvDX41ssX_77-BU8oIstJ_62oLdorsM23Hc_Fpdts5MsdAfWzsT7X5hk7rM |
| linkProvider | ProQuest |
| linkToHtml | http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMw1V1Jb9QwFLaqUgku0LIOFLAqKCer4yVxXAmhqotaNR1AHdDcgmN7pMKQGZJpq_4pfiPvZWmLQNx64BrnkOXz-97m7xHyCpHiYqOZibVmKuSeWeEd804pG2vvTF1o_5zqwSAZjcyHBfKzOwuDbZWdTawNtZ86zJFvYCCD2iFavZv9YDg1Cqur3QiNBhaH4eIcQrbq7cEO_N_XQuztDrf3WTtVgDmgqzkT3IJTkHDng3S5tpGwPNg-XFHBgPecBCm8NxYijzwIeBPhglXcJ9ILJxWKL4HJv6VQWQxbBcX7y5wOhlumHrwmeBwziDpHraynjOTG1wIlEzlKJnL5Gw1ez7r8wQk10e3d-98-0TK527rUdKvZAytkIRT3yeO0TcRWdJ2ml9rR1QMyacoAFKUpYHu8qejaEBmpDHQ6pkDDk7VNujVDjr8Ae-roUZhMfWm_W2oLT9vqAqunidJjPKiKeQtseqMnBQV_mn48td9CSbchwHlIPt3Iqz8ii8W0CE8IzW3g_fHYWa-kiiOX-wjcrdA3LmBJy_XIegeBbNZIi2R1fTGSGWAlQ6xgy6HsEXYNIFlrZKos1uCOxtkxgk2jVJvGc1ci6pHVDh9XN3MDllcZnvT_unyFnaf_Xn5Jbu8Pj9IsPRgcPiN38CGb3sZVsjgvT8NzsuTO5idV-aLeG5R8uWmk_QKCL0jX |
| linkToPdf | http://cvtisr.summon.serialssolutions.com/2.0.0/link/0/eLvHCXMw1V1JTxRBFK4QNMaLC26jLBWieKrM1NJdXSbGEGACYRwxoJlbW11VkwBjz9g9QPhr_jrf6wUwGm8cvHb1oZev3ve2-h4hrxEpLjaamVhrpkLmmRXeMe-UsrH2zlSF9q8DPRwmo5E5WCA_27Mw2FbZ2sTKUPupwxx5FwMZ1A7Rqjtu2iIOtvsfZj8YTpDCSms7TqOGyH64vIDwrXy_tw3_-o0Q_Z2jrV3WTBhgDqhrzgS34CAk3PkgXaZtJCwPtgdXVDDgSSdBCu-NhSgkCwLeSrhgFfeJ9MJJhUJMYP7vaAWkjG2D4tNVfgdDL1MNYRM8jhlEoKNG4lNGsnuSo3wiR_lELn-jxJsZmD_4oSK9_sP_-XM9Ig8aV5tu1nvjMVkI-RJ5PmgStCXdoIMrTenyCZnU5QGKkhWwbd6WdP0ImaoIdDqmQM-T9Xd0c4bcfwl21tGPYTL1hf1uqc09baoOrJoySg_xACvmM7AZjh7nFPxs-vnMnoaCbkHg85R8uZVXf0YW82keXhCa2cB747GzXkkVRy7zEbhhoWdcwFKX65CNFg7prJYcSau6YyRTwE2KuMFWRNkh7AZY0sb4lGmswU2N00MEnkYJN43nsUTUIcstVq5v5gYssjI86f11-RpHL_-9vEbuAcDSwd5w_xW5j89Ytzwuk8V5cRZWyF13Pj8ui9Vqm1Dy7baB9gvcCVGd |
| openUrl | ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info%3Aofi%2Fenc%3AUTF-8&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fsummon.serialssolutions.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=George+Lippard%27s+%22Theatre+of+Hell%22%3A+Apocalyptic+Melodrama+and+Working-Class+Spectatorship+in+the+Quaker+City&rft.jtitle=J19&rft.au=D%27Alessandro%2C+Michael&rft.date=2017-10-01&rft.pub=Johns+Hopkins+University+Press&rft.issn=2166-742X&rft.eissn=2166-7438&rft.volume=5&rft.issue=2&rft.spage=205&rft_id=info:doi/10.1353%2Fjnc.2017.0013&rft.externalDBID=HAS_PDF_LINK |
| thumbnail_l | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/lc.gif&issn=2166-742X&client=summon |
| thumbnail_m | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/mc.gif&issn=2166-742X&client=summon |
| thumbnail_s | http://covers-cdn.summon.serialssolutions.com/index.aspx?isbn=/sc.gif&issn=2166-742X&client=summon |