Further Reading
- Fowler, Patsy S., "Rejecting the Status Quo: The Attempts of Mary Pix and Susanna Centlivre to Reform Society's Patriarchal Attitudes," Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Theatre Research 11, no. 2 (Winter 1996): 49-59. (Argues that Centlivre and Pix “should be recognized for their attempts to reform society's attitudes and thus create a more woman-friendly culture.”)
- Frushell, Richard C., "Marriage and Marrying in Susanna Centlivre's Plays," Papers on Language and Literature 22, no. 1 (Winter 1986): 16-38. (Links Centlivre's treatment of marriage to the concerns and mores of Restoration comedy, calling the playwright a “barometer” of changes in the drama in the early eighteenth century.)
- Frushell, Richard C., Introduction to The Plays of Susanna Centlivre, Vol. 1, ed. Richard C. Frushell, pp. ix-cxxi. New York: Garland Publishing, 1982. (Extensive introduction to Centlivre's life and works, emphasizing the stage history of her plays and early critical responses.)
- Jerrold, Walter, "Susanna Centlivre: ‘The Cook's Wife of Buckingham Court,’" in Five Queer Women, pp. 139-99. New York: Brentano's, 1929. (Chiefly biographical study of Centlivre as one of five professional female authors, relying heavily on legend and conjecture; emphasizes her struggle for legitimacy.)
- Morgan, Fidelis, "Susannah Centlivre," in The Female Wits: Women Playwrights of the Restoration, pp. 51-61. London: Virago Press, 1981. (Brief biography of Centlivre, emphasizing the stage history of her works and her popularity throughout the eighteenth century.)
- Pearson, Jacqueline, "‘In Love with Liberty’: Women, Whigs, and Freedom in the Plays of Susanna Centlivre," in The Prostituted Muse: Images of Women and Women Dramatists, 1642-1737, pp. 202-28. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988. (Examines Centlivre's career with a focus on feminism and politics, judging the playwright moderately—and sometimes covertly—progressive. Pearson defends Centlivre's works from critiques of them as inferior or vulgar, concluding that early sexist evaluations of her plays unduly influenced later scholars.)
- Rogers, Katherine M., "Introduction: and ‘Susanna Centlivre,’" in The Meridian Anthology of Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Plays by Women, ed. Katherine M. Rogers, pp. vii-xvii; 185-86. New York: Meridian, 1994. (Discusses Centlivre in the context of early female ventures into the male-dominated territory of the theater. Rogers argues that Centlivre's plays do not evidence a strong feminist awareness.)
- Sutherland, James R., "The Progress of Error: Mrs. Centlivre and the Biographers," Review of English Studies 18, no. 70 (April 1942): 167-82. (Examines the legends proliferating about Centlivre's biography, concluding that very little can be known with certainty; traces the accretion of multiple embellishments by a series of biographers.)
- Wallace, Beth Kowaleski, "A Modest Defense of Gaming Women," Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 31 (2002): 21-39. (Contends that the physical presence of the female actor undercuts the generally patriarchal values of “gambling” plays including Centlivre's The Basset Table.)
Get Ahead with eNotes
Start your 48-hour free trial to access everything you need to rise to the top of the class. Enjoy expert answers and study guides ad-free and take your learning to the next level.
Already a member? Log in here.
