, first staged at Lincoln Inn Fields in January 1705 and then chosen for the opening of the new Queen's Theatre at Haymarket on April 27, was Susanna Centlivre's fifth play but first popular success. It established her as “the Author of the
Gamester”, a literary identity she continued to use before her great success with
The Busie Body(1709). Centlivre's story of the prospective buyer who threw away the copy of
The Gamesterhe was purchasing when learning it had been written by a woman, told in her dedication to
The Platonick Lady(1706), explains why she preferred anonymity. Frequently she complained about contemporary prejudices against women's manifestations of learning, as in her preface to
The Gamester: “And why this Wrath against the Womens Work? Perhaps you'll…
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Citation: Carraro, Laura Favero. "The Gamester". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 October 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=757, accessed 23 November 2024.]
