Subject to Change 11


Ann Mazur (University of Virginia)


“Props in Victorian Parlour Plays: The Periperformative Object”



Transformative potential of home theatricals. 
Creative use of props. Slaying a mouse with a poker. 
textual scholarship that dismiss objects forget that props aren’t just signifiers
they can become absorbed into the play action (Stauffer)
Can become part of the play’s cultural tradition
Henry II’s planting of seeds
props contain their past
Daniel Deronda: the diamond necklace
Sedgwick: letter is peri-performative, avoiding performative sentences
“I dare you” vs “not on my account” -- a changing of the nature of what is agreed
>> makes it more potent
you need the necklace for the letter to have its full effect
the return of the necklace is supernatural: she can tell she’s going to get it back
ogre’s head or beast’s head instructions: complex mesh and you can make it! 
e.g. Rumplestiltskin that involves a trap door! 

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