Abstract
The ‘peepshow’ was one of the commonest and cheapest forms of optical entertainment for most of the nineteenth century: however, it has received relatively little scholarly attention. This essay explores the heyday of the peepshow through a detailed exploration of its exhibition spaces, performance practices, and audience experiences, as well as its relationship with other popular forms such as theatre, lecturing, and illustrated journalism. In particular, the essay argues that the peepshow should not be seen as predominantly a ‘visual’ show, but, rather, that the oral performance of the peep showman was crucial to the appeal and organisation of the exhibition. The visual tableaux were subservient to his narrative, and the showman needs to be seen as part of the growth of illustrated lecturing during the period.
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©2015 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Victorian Oral Cultures: Introduction
- Peepshows for All: Performing Words and the Travelling Showman
- The Schooled Voice: Sound and Sense in the Victorian Schoolroom
- The Author on Stage: The Redpath Lyceum Bureau and the Promotion of the “Literary” Lecture
- “The Subject Escapes Me”: Spellbinding Lecturers and (In-)Attentive Audiences in Late-Victorian Serialized Sensation Fiction
- My Fair Lady Automaton
- “Highly Superior ‘Variety Turns’”: The Orthodox Roots of Suffrage Theatre
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Handbook of Postcolonial Studies
- Die Auswirkungen der Globalisierung auf den modernen Fremdsprachenunterricht. Globale Herausforderungen als Lernziele und Inhalte des fortgeschrittenen Englischunterrichts. Are We Facing the Future?
- The Fiction of America. Performance and the Cultural Imaginary in Literature and Film
- The Literary Life of Things: Case Studies in American Fiction
- Clandestine Marriage: Botany and Romantic Culture
- Propaganda 1776: Secrets, Leaks, and Revolutionary Communications in Early America
- Books Received
- Books Received
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Victorian Oral Cultures: Introduction
- Peepshows for All: Performing Words and the Travelling Showman
- The Schooled Voice: Sound and Sense in the Victorian Schoolroom
- The Author on Stage: The Redpath Lyceum Bureau and the Promotion of the “Literary” Lecture
- “The Subject Escapes Me”: Spellbinding Lecturers and (In-)Attentive Audiences in Late-Victorian Serialized Sensation Fiction
- My Fair Lady Automaton
- “Highly Superior ‘Variety Turns’”: The Orthodox Roots of Suffrage Theatre
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Handbook of Postcolonial Studies
- Die Auswirkungen der Globalisierung auf den modernen Fremdsprachenunterricht. Globale Herausforderungen als Lernziele und Inhalte des fortgeschrittenen Englischunterrichts. Are We Facing the Future?
- The Fiction of America. Performance and the Cultural Imaginary in Literature and Film
- The Literary Life of Things: Case Studies in American Fiction
- Clandestine Marriage: Botany and Romantic Culture
- Propaganda 1776: Secrets, Leaks, and Revolutionary Communications in Early America
- Books Received
- Books Received