| This dissertation offers a new kind of historical reading, one that investigates the contemporary reception of early modern drama by focusing on the publishers who staked their money on their readings of plays. Looking at plays by William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, and Christopher Marlowe, among others, I analyze how the circumstances of their publication alter our perceptions of their engagement with the conflicts and controversies of early modern England. Examining the entire careers of play publishers---the kinds of books in which they specialized and the market niches they were targeting---can lead us to publishers' own readings of their plays as well as the readings they expected from their customers. These readings often turn out to differ substantially from our own, as I show in four case studies, each of which looks at a particular publisher specializing in a particular political arena: social status, gender, parliamentary government, and religion. These four chapters offer not only new readings of these specific plays but also new understandings of the cultural moments in which they were produced, for print publication does not simply transmit the text, is not simply a neutral vessel of textual meaning. Publication always has a politics---for publishers, for their customers, and for literary critics. |
