British Pirates in Print and Performance

by M. Powell

Fictional or real, pirates haunted the imagination of the 18th and 19th century-British public during this great period of maritime commerce, exploration, and naval conflict. British Pirates in Print and Performanc e explores representations of pirates through dozens of stage performances, including adaptations by Byron, Scott, and Cooper.

344 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 18, 2015

Reviews

[James]

This book seems unsure if it's a history, literary theory, or a survey and subsequently doesn't do any of them particularly well. As for history, it rightly draws attention to the fictionality and unreliability of A General History of the Pyrates but also cites some parts of it as Correct and True with no other supporting citation. As for literary theory it fails to explore any of the interesting topics it breezes past in chapters six and seven (if heterosexual marriage serves to contain the danger posed, how to the examples of homosocial bonding serve to threaten or contain dangers to the audience? what possible factors in contemporary culture could possible play a role in why M. Read's gender ambiguity is more anxiety inducing than Anne Bonny's? *cough* transphobia *cough*). And as a survey it jumped around so much and mixed in other topics that it wasn't particularly helpful as that either.