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A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke — Wikipedia (en)

Source: Wikipedia (en)
Original: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Mrs._Charlotte_Charke
License (as archived): CC-BY-SA-4.0
Archived: 2026-11-07T03:12:56.928Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 965cb9366e26fd817db4396077b8fbd9b50d9af63e09c10caac34135ea267e31
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_4ecdfdfea091

How to cite

A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke — Wikipedia (en) — Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Mrs._Charlotte_Charke (CC-BY-SA-4.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_4ecdfdfea091 (Metraipolis archive dc_4ecdfdfea091, sha256 965cb9366e26fd817db4396077b8fbd9b50d9af63e09c10caac34135ea267e31)

BibTeX

@misc{dc4ecdfdfea091,
  title = {A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke — Wikipedia (en)},
  howpublished = {Wikipedia (en)},
  url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Mrs._Charlotte_Charke},
  note = {License CC-BY-SA-4.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_4ecdfdfea091; sha256 965cb9366e26fd817db4396077b8fbd9b50d9af63e09c10caac34135ea267e31},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC-BY-SA-4.0. Attribution: Wikipedia (en), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Mrs._Charlotte_Charke. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke is a 1755 autobiography by English actress Charlotte Charke. Her autobiography sheds light on the experiences and difficulties she faced as a woman in the public eye, providing insight into the gender dynamics of 18th-century England and her own economic struggles. Originally published as a serial, Charke claims that the narrative is an attempt to reconcile with her father, who at the time of writing had disowned her. The book sold well and was republished several times. Charke was the daughter of the famous actor and playwright Colley Cibber and followed in his footsteps, spending much of her own life in the theater. Her narrative uses dramatic language and themes, allowing the sense of the theatre to be present in her autobiography as she takes on the role of different identities. However, much of her autobiography illustrates Charke's life off the stage, including her crossdressing. While she portrayed many breeches roles throughout her career in the theater, she often chose to cross dress under male identities in her daily life. Her autobiography documents the various occupations -sometimes male- that she assumed while crossdressing, her consistent economic deficiencies, multiple marriages, and the estrangement from her family and complications of her own. A notable aspect of the narrative style is its episodic format, which Charke claims to have chosen for specific entertainment and to gain public opinion on the episodes of her life that are implied to be the reason for Cibber's disownment of his daughter. Through modern perspectives, this narrative can be viewed as something akin to a tell-all. Charke’s autobiography was infamous in her time for her striking, somewhat chaotic prose as she jumped from subject to subject and from job to job. Charke's autobiographical narrative has maintained weight in many forms of modern literary criticism, most of which involve speculation around the consistent usage of crossdressing throughout her life. In the field of literature and gender studies, Charke's narrative has inspired work of to further understanding of English women's experiences in the 18th century. Patricia Meyer Spacks, Susan Paterson Glover, and Misty G. Anderson are just a few of the scholars who have delved into Charke's life and work, shedding light on the complexities of gender, performance, and identity in the 18th century.

Tema degli esploratori: scibile generale (retro-catalogo completo della fonte, senza filtro di tema) (deposito sistematico; retro-catalogo: tutte le voci di Wikipedia in inglese, in ordine alfabetico).
Fonte: Wikipedia in inglese, voce «A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke» — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Mrs._Charlotte_Charke
Wikidata Q125946444: «1755 autobiography of Charlotte Charke» (dati Wikidata in CC0 1.0) — https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q125946444
Autori: i contributori di Wikipedia (cronologia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Narrative_of_the_Life_of_Mrs._Charlotte_Charke?action=history).
Licenza: Creative Commons Attribuzione-Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. Il riuso richiede attribuzione e stessa licenza.
Estratto dell'introduzione non modificato nel contenuto; revisione 1373314451, consultata il 2026-11-07T03:09:33.635Z tramite l'API ufficiale di Wikipedia. Impronta SHA-256 dell'estratto: e0122609ea838ef21db7aac78f6957ef63a70cbc26c7b13fc76bc993834f6e76