Gothic Novel and the Stage

Received honourable mention for The Society for the Study of English Book Awards 2016, Literatures in the English Language, Category AShortlisted for the 2017 Allan Lloyd Smith Memorial Prize for Gothic Criticism awarded by the International Gothic Association (for a standout monograph published in 2015 and 2016).'This study focuses on the relationship between the late 18th c. and early 19th c. Gothic novel and the stage. Saggini has carried out extensive research and has detected an impressive number of sources that record stage appropriations of Gothic novels. The book is dedicated to a highly neglected Romantic genre, i.e. drama, in a manner which combines structuralist analysis with contextual historical understanding. Saggini writes lucidly in a style that will appeal to readers also outside academia, and the book contains brilliant illustrations as well as clear overviews in table form. In sum, this is a significant work of admirable scholarship, thoroughly researched and admirably documented, offering valuable insights into the eighteenth-century culture.' - The European Society for the Study of English'Saggini's articulation is clear, and her reasoning is innovative and complex… Saggini has researched her topic deeply, and the resulting book represents a thoughtful analysis of the practices and negotiations activated by the Gothic stage.' - Emily Hodgson Anderson, University of Southern California, Review 19'By guiding the reader through the history and development of Gothic drama in the early sections of the book, Saggini effectively sets the scene of the genre’s background, before convincingly putting forward her argument that through a cultural network of stage theatricals and novel-writing, Gothic dramas inspired Gothic novelists.” - Sarah A. Winter, Studies in Gothic Fiction, Volume 4"Saggini successfully intertwines two different genres: the novel and the stage play and discusses topics such as authorship, readership and audience. Her study is thoroughly researched and presented containing crucial facts for the reader…. a very valuable [study] for everyone who is interested in the Gothic and Theatre, stage lighting, special effects and beyond." Nora Olsen, The Dark Arts Journal. New and Emerging Voices In Gothic Studies, April 2017"Saggini … offer[s] an insightful, detailed, and interesting academic study … Since [she] provides an in-depth look at the historical and cultural context around the appropriation of the Gothic stage drama during the late 1700s, the book will be a very accessible resource to readers with limited knowledge of the topic or the texts." Blair Speakman, Aeternum: The Journal of Contemporary Gothic Studies, 3:2, 2016, pp. 72-73"The first part of the book offers short overviews of contemporary critical reactions and modern criticism of Gothic drama before turning to a model of appropriation that sees the Gothic as an interform: intertextual, intertheatrical (as plays bounce off other pieces on the evening playbill and performances at other theatres), generically hybrid ("intergenericity", p. 137), and remediated. Saggini thus works to re-theorize the sometimes-odd ways in which Gothic texts seem to beg, borrow, or steal whatever they need". - Jeffrey Cox, Studies in English Literature 1500-1900. "The Nineteenth Century" 56, 4 (2016), pp. 951-52

• Part 1 The Gothic Stage; Introduction – The Transforming Muses: Theorizing Stage Appropriation, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 1 A Stage of Tears and Terror: Introducing the Gothic Stage, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 2 Uncloseting the Gothic Monster, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 3 An Overview of Critical Responses to English Gothic theatre, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 4 A Chronology of Gothic Drama, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 5 The Gothic Drama: A Survey of Criticism, Francesca Saggini; Part 2 Performing Stage Appropriation in the Romantic Era: The Languages of the Stage and the Page; Chapter 6 An Evening At The Theatre: Performance, Intertheatricality, Infratheatricality, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 7 A Pathognomic Theatre: The Body of the Actor and Contemporary Theories of Acting, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 8 Intersemiotic Translation and Appropriation: An Exploration of Sound, Scenery, Lighting and Costume in Gothic Dramas and Novels, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 9 Surface Vs Depth: Staging The Signifiers of The Gothic, Francesca Saggini; Part 3 Practising the Appropriation of the Gothic Stage: Romantic Case Studies; Chapter 10 ‘To Ears of Flesh and Blood’: Ann Radcliffe’s Stage Hauntings, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 11 Change, Transformation, Spectacle: The Monk and the Forms of Georgian Scenic Spectacle, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 12 On the Re-Mediation of Gothic Dramas: The Gothic Stage and The Gothic Trade, Francesca Saggini; Chapter 102 Afterword, Francesca Saggini;