Embracing the Lackluster: Investigating the Life (and Afterlives) of a Nineteenth-Century Workaday Actor
Amy E. Hughes
aehugh@umich.eduUniversity of Michigan–Ann Arbor (Stany Zjednoczone)
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7710-2062
Abstrakt
Amerykański aktor i antreprener Harry Watkins (1825–1894) nie był wyjątkowy. Pragnął sławy, ale zaledwie się o nią otarł. Jeśli postać Watkinsa ma w ogóle jakieś „znaczenie historyczne”, to przede wszystkim dlatego, że pozostawił obszerny dziennik, w którym opisał swoje przeżycia z okresu poprzedzającego wojnę secesyjną. Kiedy autorka w 2008 roku odkryła ten rękopis, właśnie nijakość Watkinsa stała się przedmiotem jej badań, których osią jest pytanie, jak historia tego niewiele znaczącego aktora oświetla dziewiętnastowieczną kulturę amerykańską – równie obsesyjnie skupioną na sławie i osiągnięciach jak dzisiejsza. Autorka dowodzi, że Watkins to postać znacząca właśnie dlatego, że jest zwyczajny, zapomniany, przeciętny. Jego losy rzucają światło na to, czym jest „biała przeciętność” (Koritha Mitchell), i pogłębiają rozumienie przewrotnej mocy amerykańskiego snu. Niewidzialność Watkinsa za życia i później sugeruje, że przeciętność jest formą napiętnowania i odrzucenia. Jego cykliczne wzloty i upadki uzmysławiają istnienie sił kulturowych, które nadal kształtują aspiracje współczesnych artystów teatralnych i przesądzają o triumfach i porażkach definiujących ich (nasze) nieubłaganie zwyczajne życie.
Słowa kluczowe:
Stany Zjednoczone, XIX wiek, teatr , merytokracja, amerykański sen, biała przeciętnośćBibliografia
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Autorzy
Amy E. Hughesaehugh@umich.edu
University of Michigan–Ann Arbor Stany Zjednoczone
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7710-2062
Amy E. Hughes - profesorka na Uniwersytecie Michigan–Ann Arbor. Jej zainteresowania naukowe koncentrują się wokół teatru i performansu w Stanach Zjednoczonych w XIX wieku. Zajmuje się także kulturą materialną i wizualną, studiami nad niepełnosprawnością, studiami nad zwierzętami, humanistyką cyfrową, edycją dokumentów historycznych i pedagogiką uwzględniającą różnice kulturowe (w duchu koncepcji dr Genevay Gay). Jej pierwsza książka, Spectacles of Reform: Theater and Activism in Nineteenth-Century America (University of Michigan Press, 2012), otrzymała w 2013 roku nagrodę Barnard Hewitt Award przyznawaną przez Amerykańskie Towarzystwo Badań Teatralnych. Z Naomi J. Stubbs zredagowała A Player and a Gentleman: The Diary of Harry Watkins, Nineteenth-Century US American Actor (University of Michigan Press, 2018).
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