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One of Bernard Shaw’s early plays of social protest, Mrs Warren’s Profession places the protagonist’s decision to become a prostitute in the context of the appalling conditions for working class women in Victorian England. Faced with ill health, poverty, and marital servitude on the one hand, and opportunities for financial independence, dignity, and self-worth on…

The second of Shaw’s “unpleasant” plays, written in 1893, published in 1898, but not performed until 1905, The Philanderer is subtitled “A Topical Comedy.” The eclectic range of topical subjects addressed in the play includes the influence of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen on British middle-class social mores (the second act of The Philanderer is set…

This edition of one of the Western canon’s most iconic plays brings back into print the pivotal 1890 translation by William Archer. It was this translation that was largely responsible for the huge impact that A Doll’s House had in the English-speaking world, igniting as it did, in the words of one critic, “a firestorm…

In all six of its volumes The Broadview Anthology of British Literature presents British literature in a truly distinctive light. Fully grounded in sound literary and historical scholarship, the anthology takes a fresh approach to many canonical authors, and includes a wide selection of work by lesser-known writers. The anthology also provides wide-ranging coverage of…

In all six of its volumes The Broadview Anthology of British Literature presents British literature in a truly distinctive light. Fully grounded in sound literary and historical scholarship, the anthology takes a fresh approach to many canonical authors, and includes a wide selection of work by lesser-known writers. The anthology also provides wide-ranging coverage of…

A Marriage Below Zero is the first novel in English to explicitly explore the subject of male homosexuality. Written by a British émigré to America, the New York theater critic Alfred J. Cohen, under the pseudonym of “Alan Dale,” this first-person narrative is told by a young Englishwoman, Elsie Bouverie, who gradually discovers that her…

Written in 1890, at the close of William Morris’s most intense period of political activism, News from Nowhere is a compelling articulation of his mature views on art, work, community, family, and the nature and structure of the ideal society. A utopian narrative of a future society, it is also an immensely entertaining novel. This…

This is a special Trade eBook edition of Kirsten Lodge’s acclaimed translation of Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories. A separate teaching edition of these translations—with contextualizing appendices, extensive annotations, and an introduction—is also available in both print and eBook formats. This is a special Trade eBook edition of Kirsten Lodge’s…

This modified eBook is intended for readers outside of the United States and Canada. If you are within the United States or Canada, please see the print and eBook options available on this page. Learn more about The Broadview Anthology of British Literature on this page. For copyright reasons, some readings are omitted from this…

Guided by the latest scholarship, The Broadview Anthology of British Literature is acclaimed for its inclusiveness and its deep attention to literature’s historical and cultural contexts. The Broadview is structured to meet the needs of today’s students, with an unparalleled selection of illustrations and contextual materials, accessible and engaging introductions, and full explanatory annotations. The…

Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son took the London theatre by storm in 1912. Following its triumphant run, the play toured to New York, was produced throughout England, and was translated and staged in multiple European locations. Yet Sowerby’s initial theatrical success would not be repeated. With historical hindsight, we can see Sowerby’s experience as comparable…

The Broadview Anthology of Drama: Plays from the Western Theatre is a chronological presentation of 43 plays in two volumes, ranging from the ancient theatre world to the present day. Each chapter focuses on a specific period and begins with an insightful introduction sketching the historical and theatrical landscape of that period. Contextualization for each…

George Gissing’s The Odd Women dramatizes key issues relating to class and gender in late-Victorian culture: the changing relationship between the sexes, the social impact of ‘odd’ or ‘redundant’ women, the cultural impact of ‘the new woman,’ and the opportunities for and conditions of employment in the expanding service sector of the economy. At the…

In 1919, Prime Minister David Lloyd George of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland noted that “there is a path of fatality which pursues the relations between the two countries and makes them eternally at cross purposes.” For better or worse, Ireland has frequently been defined by its relationship with its neighbor to…

The Second Mrs. Tanqueray was the theatrical sensation of the London stage in 1893. It established Pinero as the leading English dramatist of serious social issues, and created a star out of Mrs. Patrick Campbell in the title role. The play recounts the marriage of a “woman with a past” and how it fails because…

The Importance of Being Earnest marks a central moment in late-Victorian literature, not only for its wit but also for its role in the shift from a Victorian to a Modern consciousness. The play began its career as a biting satire directed at the very audience who received it so delightedly, but ended its initial…

Very successful when first performed in London in 1908, Diana of Dobson’s introduces its audience to the overworked and underpaid female assistants at Dobson’s Drapery Emporium, whose only alternative to their dead-end jobs is the unlikely prospect of marriage. Although Cicely Hamilton calls the play “a romantic comedy,” like George Bernard Shaw she also criticizes…

Regarded by Bernard Shaw as a master of the theatre, Dion Boucicault was arguably the most important figure in drama in North America and in Britain during the second half of the nineteenth century. He was largely forgotten during the twentieth century—though he continued to influence popular culture (the iconic image of a woman tied…