Thomas Holcroft

Thomas Holcroft ( born December 10, 1745 in London, † March 23, 1809 ) was an English novelist and translator.

Life

Holcroft came from a humble background; his father was a shoemaker. After only a few years of school to Holcroft joined a drama troupe. After many years in various ensembles, he got in 1778 an engagement at Drury Lane Theatre in London.

About the theater work he did in that time acquaintance with the writers and philosophers Thomas Paine and William Godwin. All three of these sought early on to spread the ideas of the French Revolution in England. This led in 1794 to an arrest and indictment for high treason; however, has not been convicted Holcroft. 1805 Holcroft was incidentally also served as editor of the Theatrical Recorder.

At the age of 63 years Thomas Holcroft died on 23 March 1809 in London.

In his literary work Holcroft theme repeatedly demands for political freedom and social justice. In his translations and adaptations of French plays, the social criticism is excessive and usually gives way to a utopian idealism. Holcroft helped the melodrama on the London stage to make at home, especially with translations of Pixérécourts early pieces.

His wife married after his death, the English playwright James Kenney.

Works

• Alwyn or the gentleman comedian (1780 )
• Anna St. Ives ( 1792)
• The deserted daughter ( 1795)
• Duplicity (1781 )
• The follies of the day (1784 )
• Hugh Trevor (1794 )
• Love frailties (1794 )
• Memoirs of Bryant Perdue (1805 )
• The road to ruin (1792 )
• The school of arrogance (1791 )
• Seduction (1787 )
• The tale of mystery ( 1802)