Ideological Meanings through Paratextual Repertoires: Eighteenth-Century Theatre in Portugal as a Case Study

Abstract

We present here a study of the field of theatre in Portugal in the late eighteenth century, focusing especially on the detection of ideological meanings through paratextual repertoires significant for understanding the position and function developed by theatre in the cultural field. This means that politically or morally loaded ideas can be found in literary texts or, in this case, in theatrical plays or performances through elements of repertoire relating to the structure of the product, the conditions of its production, release or performance that do not explicitly relate to a moral or political pattern. The traditional analysis of literary products has mainly focused on what is said, but we think that how it is said is relevant as well. A connection can be traced between the literary and the historical tools of analysis through these paratextual elements of repertoire. © Modern Humanities Research Association 2011.