CAMP EXPERTISE: ARTHUR SYMONS, MUSIC-HALL, AND THE DEFENSE OF THEORY

Abstract

BY THE CLOSE OF THE PREVIOUS CENTURY, English music-hall or variety, an entertainment form that incorporated comic acts, sketch comedy, dance, even animal acts, was drawing a broad base of middle-class patrons, and losing its exclusive character as working-class entertainment. “Variety” halls like the Alhambra or the Empire now claimed the attention and lucre of a new mass audience. Music-hall was also, I would argue, a proving ground where enterprising intellectuals could flex their evaluative muscle. Perhaps more than any other Late Victorian man of letters, critic and poet Arthur Symons frequented the music-hall with an eye toward representing it, a service that he regularly performed for The Star newspaper and elite cultural venues such as The Fortnightly Review.