Elkanah Settle (* 1. Februar 1648 in Dunstable; † 12. Februar 1724 in London) war ein englischer Dramatiker der Stuart-Restauration.

Leben

Sein größter Erfolg war die spektakuläre Empress of Morocco (1673), die sich zahlreicher Wiederaufnahmen und Nachdrucke erfreute. John Dryden, John Crowne und Thomas Shadwell attackierten das Stück in einem 1674 gedruckten Pamphlet Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco auf das Schärfste. Überaus erfolgreich war auch die 1673 erstaufgeführte Farce-Version des Stücks von Thomas Duffett.

Neben zahlreichen Dramen veröffentlichte Settle Gelegenheitsgedichte und politische Pamphlete.

Dramatisches Werk (Auswahl)

• Cambyses King of Persia: a tragedy. Acted by His Highness the Duke of York’s servants. Written by Elkanah Settle, Gent. Licensed, March 6. 1670. Roger L’Estrange. London: printed for William Cademan, at the Pope’s Head in the lower walk of the New-Exchange, 1671.
• The empress of Morocco. A tragedy. With sculptures. As it is acted at the Duke’s Theatre. Written by Elkanah Settle, servant to his Majesty. London: printed for William Cademan at the Popes-head in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange in the Strand, 1673.
• The conquest of China, by the Tartars. A tragedy acted at the Duke’s Theatre. Written by Elkanah Settle, servant to His Majesty. London: printed by T[homas]. M[ilbourn]. for W. Cademan, at the Popes-Head in the lower-walk of the New-Exchange, in the Strand, 1676.
• Ibrahim the illustrious Bassa. A tragedy. Acted at the Duke’s Theatre. Written by Elkanah Settle, servant to His Majesty. Licensed May the 4th. 1676. Roger L’Estrange. London: printed by T[homas]. M[ilbourn]. for W. Cademan, at the Popes-Head in the lower vvalk of the New-Exchange in the Strand, 1677.
• The Female Prelate: being the History of the Life and Death of Pope Joan. London: Printed for W. Cademan, 1680.
• The heir of Morocco, with the death of Gayland. Acted at the Theatre Royal. By E. Settle. London: printed for William Cademan at the Popes Head in the lower walk of the New Exchange, 1682.
• Distress’d innocence: or, The Princess of Persia, a tragedy. As it is acted at the Theatre Royal by Their Majesties servants. Written by E. Settle. London: printed by E[dward]. J[ones]. for Abel Roper at the Mitre near Temple-Bar in Fleet-Street, 1691.
• The ambitious slave: or, a generous revenge, a tragedy, acted at the Theatre Royal. Written by E. Settle. London: printed for A. Roper, and E. Wilkinson, at the Black-Boy in Fleetstreet, 1694.
• Cassandra: or, the virgin prophetess An opera, as it is now perform’d at the Theatre Royal by His Majesty’s servants. The musical entertainments being inserted in their proper places. London: printed for A. Roper, and R. Basset, 1702.

Literatur

• F. C. Brown: “Settle’s occasional poetry”. Elkanah Settle: His Life and Works. University of Chicago Press, 1910.
• William J. Bulman: Publicity and Popery on the Restoration Stage: Elkanah Settle’s ‘The Empress of Morocco in Context’. In: Journal of British Studies, 51.2, 2012, S. 308–339.
• Settle, Elkanah. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. 11. Auflage. Band 24: Sainte-Claire Deville – Shuttle. London 1911, S. 705 (englisch, Volltext [Wikisource]). .
• Jeannie Dalporto: The Succession Crisis and Elkanah Settle’s The Conquest of China by the Tartars. In: Eighteenth Century: Theory and Interpretation, 45.2, 2004, S. 131–146.
• Anne Doyle: Dryden’s Authorship of Notes and Observations on The Empress of Morocco (1674). In: Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900 (SEL), 6.3, 1966, S. 421–445.
• Don-John Dugas: Elkanah Settle, John Crowne and Nahum Tate. In: Susan J. Owen (Hrsg.): A Companion to Restoration Drama. Blackwell, Oxford UK 2008, S. 378–395. Print. Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture (Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture), S. 12.
• Anne Hermanson: Monstrous Women in Aphra Behn’s Abdelazer and Elkanah Settle’s The Empress of Morocco. In: Mary Ann O’Donnell, Bernard Dhuicq (Hrsg.): Aphra Behn (1640–1689): Le modèle Européen. Bilingua, Paris 2005, S. 25–32.
• Anne Hermanson: The Horror Plays of the English Restoration. Ashgate, Surrey UK 2014.
• Susan B. Iwanisziw: Tortured Bodies, Factionalism, and Unsettled Loyalties in Settle’s Morocco Plays. In: James Robert Allard, Mathew R. Martin (Hrsg.): Staging Pain, 1580–1800: Violence and Trauma in British Theater. Ashgate, Surrey UK 2009, S. 111–136.
• H. H. R. Love: The Authorship of the Postscript of Notes and Observations on the Empress of Morocco. In: Notes and Queries, 13, 1966, S. 27–28.
• Maximillian E. Novak: Elkanah Settle’s Attacks on Thomas Shadwell and the Authorship of the ‚Operatic Tempest‘. In: Notes and Queries, 15, 1968, S. 263–265.
• The Empress of Morocco and Its Critics. Clark Memorial Library, UCLC, Los Angeles 1968.
• Ayanna Thompson: Performing Race and Torture on the Early Modern Stage. Routledge, New York NY 2008.