Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon as a case for stirring up the debate over abolition of slavery
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| Year of publication | 2015 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The Octoroon (premiered in New York in 1859) by the Irish, and later naturalized American playwright Dion Boucicault, is in principle a harmless melodrama—save for a potentially explosive element, an interracial couple. Its staging directly before the outbreak of the US Civil War contributed to stirring up the debate over the abolition of slavery. The paper investigates the aesthetic, political and personal reasons why he originally resisted to change the play into a melodrama with a happy ending. |
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