Autobiography in early modern England / Adam Smyth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smyth, Adam, 1972-

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700--History and criticism.

English literature.

Autobiography--Authorship.

Autobiography in literature.

Almanacs, English--History.

Almanacs, English.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 222 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Summary:

"How did individuals write about their lives before a modern tradition of diaries and autobiographies was established? Adam Smyth examines the kinds of texts that sixteenth- or seventeenth-century individuals produced to register their life, in the absence of these later, dominant templates. The book explores how readers responded to, and improvised with, four forms - the almanac, the financial account, the commonplace book and the parish register - to create written records of their lives. Early modern autobiography took place across these varied forms, often through a lengthy process of transmission and revision of written documents. This book brings a dynamic, surprising culture of life-writing to light for the first time, and will be of interest to anyone studying autobiography or early modern literature"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Acknowledgements; Note on references; Introduction; 1. Almanacs and annotators; 2. Financial accounting; 3. Commonplace book lives: 'a very applicative story'; 4. Entries and exits: finding life in parish registers; Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780521761727

0521761727

OCLC:

607985531

Online:

Publisher description

Contributor biographical information

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