This 1993 book explores the history of French theatre in the nineteenth century through its special role as an organized popular entertainment. Traditionally regarded as an elite art form, in post-Revolutionary France the stage began to be seen as an industry like any other and the theatre became one of the few areas of employment where women were in demand as much as men. The increasingly commercial ethos dominating the stage led to the mass production of plays with audience appeal, resulting in an inevitable dilution of literary standards. In this lively account, Hemmings examines how the theatre world flourished and evolved, and reveals such matters as the difficult life of the actress, salaries and contracts, and the profession of the playwright.

Relations between theatre and state were seldom more fraught in France than in the latter part of the eighteenth and during the nineteenth century. The unique attraction of the theatre, the sole source of mass entertainment over the period, accounts in part for this: successive governments could not ignore these large nightly gatherings, viewing them with distrust and attempting to control them by every kind of device, from censorship of plays to the licensing of playhouses. In his illuminating study, F. W. J. Hemmings traces the vicissitudes of this perennial conflict, which began with the rise of the small independent boulevard theatres in the 1760s and eventually petered out in 1905 with the abandonment of censorship by the state. There are separate chapters on the provincial theatre, while the French Revolution is given particularly detailed attention. This work, complementing his earlier book The Theatre Industry in Nineteenth-Century France, will be of interest to students of theatre history, French studies and European culture in general.

Relations between theater and state were seldom more fraught in France than in the latter part of the eighteenth and during the nineteenth centuries. In his illuminating study, F.W.J. Hemmings traces the vicissitudes of this perennial conflict, which began with the rise of the small independent boulevard theaters in the 1760s and eventually ended in 1905 with the abandonment of censorship by the state. There are separate chapters on the provincial theater, while the French Revolution is given particularly detailed attention. This work, complementing his earlier book The Theatre Industry in Nineteenth-Century France (CUP 1993), will be of interest to students of theater history, French studies, and European culture in general.

This is the first book to explore the history of French theater in the nineteenth century through its special role as an organized popular entertainment. Traditionally regarded as an elite art form, in post-Revolutionary France the stage began to be seen as an industry like any other and the theater became one of the few areas of employment where women were in demand as much as men. In this lively account, Hemmings examines how the theater world flourished and evolved, and reveals such matters as the difficult life of the actress, salaries and contracts, and the profession of the playwright.

One hundred and fifty years ago, the young naturalists Alfred Wallace, Henry Walter Bates, and Richard Spruce were on a journey. Their destination, Amazonia the world s largest tropical forest with the greatest river system and richest ecosystem was then an almost-undiscovered environment to Western explorers and scientists. In Naturalists in Paradise, Amazon expert John Hemming weaves the riveting stories of these three men s experiences in the Amazon and assesses their valuable research that drastically changed our conception of the natural world. Each of the three naturalists is famous for a particular discovery: Wallace is credited, along with Charles Darwin, for developing the theory of evolution; Bates uncovered the phenomenon of protective mimicry among insects; and Spruce transported the quinine-bearing Cinchona tree to India, saving countless lives from malaria. Drawing on the letters and books of the three naturalists, Hemming reaches beyond the well-known narratives, offering unrivaled insight into the often lawless frontier life in South America as seen through the lives of the great pioneers of modern disciplines: anthropology, tribal linguistics, archaeology, and every branch of natural science."

In 1945, three young brothers joined and eventually led Brazil's first government-sponsored expedition into its Amazonian rainforests. After more expeditions into unknown terrain, they became South America's most famous explorers, spending the rest of their lives with the resilient tribal communities they found there. People of the Rainforest recounts the Villas Boas brothers' four thrilling and dangerous 'first contacts' with isolated indigenous people, and their lifelong mission to learn about their societies and, above all, help them adapt to modern Brazil without losing their cultural heritage, identity and pride. Author and explorer John Hemming vividly traces the unique adventures of these extraordinary brothers, who used their fame to change attitudes to native peoples and to help protect the world's surviving tropical rainforests, under threat again today.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!