Filling in the Blanks in Early Modern Drama

Abstract

abstract:This essay examines the staging of blank documents in early modern drama for the first time. It demonstrates the prevalence of blanks as props in over two dozen plays and argues for the blank as an important but neglected aspect of early modern textual culture. The permissiveness of the blank is shown to be dangerous within political dramas, both onstage and in real life. The essay also probes the theoretical implications of the blank as a symbol of literary interpretation itself. Attention is paid to historical and political contexts as well as minute bibliographical and typographical detail in a range of plays from Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton, Shirley, and others.