Reviews for The Limits of Performance in the French Romantic Theatre (Durham Modern Languages Series)

The average rating for The Limits of Performance in the French Romantic Theatre (Durham Modern Languages Series) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-05-05 00:00:00 Norman Cohan This is listed only as an English-language work, but roughly 25% is in untranslated French, so I basically missed out on all of the supporting source quotes, and might have rated this higher but for that (and for its price, for such a short work, even without considering the French). It did have some points that I found interesting, as related to fashion. The first was that the earlier (pre-Beau Brummell is the best way I can describe it, although the French would likely not describe it in this way!) fashion was thought more erotic, because it was more lavish and elegant. I suppose these were French men who thought it so? Because give me a man looking like a man in Brummell's trousers any day over the old frippery. The second was that because men's dress became more austere, it became more difficult to distinguish between the classes among men, and it is left to women to display more fineness in their dress. I'd always wondered how we went from those lovely empire-waist gowns with stays to the corseted gowns that look like they've been trimmed by a cake confectioner of the 1830s and beyond, but this provides a good theory. In the late 18th and early 19th century, when those empire waist gowns and fine muslin were the style, it was based on an elegance of simplicity and taste that (most) in the upper classes would have possessed. But with the rise of the middle class through trade and industrialism, more frippery was required in order to show wealth. And since Paris was a center of fashion, it's easy to see this style radiating out and influencing English fashion as well.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-12-22 00:00:00 Adrian Jones Anyone that is a person of color should read this book and educate yourself about real black history. You are more than just the Martin Luther Kings and Harriet Tubmans of the world