We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Censoring Thomas Holcroft
from Part II - Politics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 August 2023
This essay considers the impact of censorship on Holcroft’s career as a whole, not simply his experiences under the Examiner but the wider public condemnation of some of his work. Identifying Knave or Not? and He’s to Blame, both staged in early 1798, as the pivotal point in his writing career, the essay shows how the public opprobrium unfairly received by Holcroft coloured his later career. Paying careful attention to the language of the plays, in a decade when the meanings of words were under heated dispute, the essay showcases Holcroft’s political courage compared to contemporaries. It argues that Holcroft deliberately reduces comedic options in order to strengthen the force of his political principles, a move that remains underappreciated today, and paid a considerable price for his resolve not to fuel wit through displays of people’s suffering.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
