Call for articles: John Dryden, Revolutionary Readings and Readers : New Perspectives on a Restoration Multitasker

 Special Issue 2027, Caliban (an international peer-reviewed journal in Anglophone studies published by Presses Universitaires du Midi : Caliban - French Journal of English Studies (openedition.org))

 Eds. Nathalie Genet-Rouffiac (Service Historique de la Défense), Filip Krajník (Masaryk University) , Nathalie Rivere de Carles (Université Toulouse Jean Jaurès)

 Deadline for proposals (300-500 words in English or French) to be sent at drydeneditors@gmail.com : 1st October 2024

Notification of acceptance: 1st November 2024.

Submission of completed articles (6000-8000 words, footnotes included):  1st November 2025.

 In the wake of the 350 years anniversary of the union of the houses of Orange and Stuart through the marriage of William of Orange and Mary Stuart, daughter of the future James II of England, in November 1677, this special issue aims to offer new readings on John Dryden’s literary and political role and actions.  Dryden’s career spanned from the Interregnum period to the end of the Stuart dynasty and the rise of house of Orange on the throne of England. He was thus a witness to radical changes in European history that were reflected in his innovative take on satire, (musical and stage) drama and translation. This issue would like to invite contributions by confirmed and early-career scholars on John Dryden’s works, on English, European and Global history of his time and through his prism, as well as on his legacy through English and foreign readers / translators of his works. The editors particularly welcome new theoretical appraisals of Dryden’s style, historical agency and the idea of Republican and Restoration England he helped convey.

Editors invite contributions in the field of theatre, theatre history and criticism, social and political history, translation and adaptation studies, history of literature, opera and musicology. Interdisciplinary approaches are also welcome.

  Invited topics (non-exhaustive list):

 - Dryden and revolutionary England: the elegy for Cromwell, French historical perspectives on Dryden's England

- Dryden and religion: a puritan poet? Dryden and Israel, the Catholic question, the history of Dryden's League (The Duke of Guise, a Tragedy) and the (religious) visions of other countries.

- Dryden and satire: comparisons with other satirists, Dryden's satire in a critical historical perspective on satire and its functions...

- Dryden and the idea of Empire: formation of the concept of Empire in Dryden's England and in Europe, the role of Empire in Dryden's works

- Dryden and translation: Dryden's translations (French, Latin, Greek) and Dryden's translation, transnationalism

- Dryden and other English-speaking authors (Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton, Shadwell) or French-speaking authors: comparative studies between Dryden and other authors, what it means to publish Dryden alongside other major authors,

- Dryden and heroism: revisiting the concept of the hero and heroism in the works of Dryden and his contemporaries.

- Reading Dryden after Dryden: Dryden's readers, the rewriting of Dryden (Shaw's example, etc.) in England and abroad.

- Dryden as critical reader and essayist, Dryden's influence on contemporary criticism.

- Dryden and music: Purcell and King Arthur, the musicality of Dryden's work