Another interesting e-text just showed up. I’ve got to take the time to read it when I get a little bit ahead on my school stuff:
Peake’s play, which appeared at the English Opera House in 1823, was the first stage version of Mary Shelley’s novel. Because the English Opera House was not one of the “legitimate” theaters licensed to present conventional dramatic works (like Shakespeare), Presumption is a mixture of drama, music, and spectacle of the sort found in theater venues other than Covent Garden and Drury Lane.
This electronic edition combines the texts of the variant versions of Presumption in an accessible form for the general and student reader. It includes historical and critical accounts of the playwright, the actors, the play (including two early reviews) and the theater scene in 1823, together with an essay on the relation of Presumption (as a theater piece) to Frankenstein (as a novel). There are also selective bibliographical materials.
Behrendt’s book on Blake’s Milton illustrations is excellent. It’s so weird that I begin to recognize all these names, based on the work I’ve done on Blake!
