English literary afterlives : Greene, Sidney, Donne and the evolution of posthumous fame / Elisabeth Chaghafi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chaghafi, Elisabeth Leila, author.

Contributor:

Manchester University Press, publisher.

Series:

Manchester Spenser

The Manchester Spenser

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Greene, Robert, 1558-1592--Appreciation.

Greene, Robert.

Sidney, Philip, 1554-1586--Appreciation.

Sidney, Philip.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599--Appreciation.

Spenser, Edmund.

Donne, John, 1572-1631--Appreciation.

Donne, John.

Herbert, George, 1593-1633--Appreciation.

Herbert, George.

Herbert, George, 1593-1633.

Donne, John, 1572-1631.

Spenser, Edmund, 1552?-1599.

Sidney, Philip, 1554-1586.

Greene, Robert, 1558-1592.

English poetry--Early modern, 1500-1700--Appreciation--History.

English poetry.

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

History.

English poetry--Early modern.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (224 pages) : illustrations (black and white); digital file(s).

Place of Publication:

Manchester, UK : Manchester University Press, 2019.

Language Note:

In English.

System Details:

data file

Summary:

<i>English Literary Afterlives</i> traces life narratives of early modern authors created for them after their deaths by readers or publishers, who retrospectively tried to make sense of the author's life and works. In a series of case-studies of the reception history of major poets - Sidney, Spenser, Donne, Herbert, as well as Robert Greene, the first 'celebrity author' - within a generation of their deaths, it shows how those authors were posthumously fashioned and refashioned. It argues that during the early modern period there is a gradual movement towards biographical readings that attempt to find the author in the works, which in turn led to the emergence of written lives that consider poets not in terms of their 'public' lives but in terms of their poetic activity, i.e. the beginnings of literary biography. Will be of interest to students and scholars of several canonical early modern authors.

"<i>English literary afterlives </i>illustrates the Renaissance treatment of the posthumous literary life. It argues for the emergence of biographical reading practices during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as early readers attempted to link the literary output of dead authors to their personal lives. Early modern authors' complex attitudes to print, and their attempts to 'fashion' their own careers through their writings have been well documented. This study, by contrast, explores how authors and their literary reputations were fashioned after their deaths (and sometimes appropriated) by early modern readers, publishers and printers. It examines the use of biographical prefaces in early modern editions, the fictional presentation of historical poets, pseudo-biography, as well as more conventional modes such as elegy and the exemplary life. By analysing responses to a series of major literary figures after their deaths - Geoffrey Chaucer, Philip Sidney, Robert Greene, Edmund Spenser, John Donne, and George Herbert - <i>English literary afterlives</i> charts the pre-history of literary biography in the period and presents a counter-narrative to established ideas of authorial emergence through self-fashioning. The book will appeal to scholars and students of the individual authors covered, as well as readers interested in book history, reception history, authorship and life-writing." -- Back cover.

Contents:

List of figures

Introduction

1. The complete author

2. The posthumous career of Robert Greene

3. 'Borne in Arcady': Sidney's literary rebirth

Interlude: 'After I am dead and rotten': Spenser's missing afterlife

4. Walton's literary <i>Lives: </i>from Donne to Herbert<i></i>

Conclusion: brief lives and lives of the poets

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Made available via: manchesterhive.

MUP 2020 titles.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print record.

Other Format:

Print version: Chaghafi, Elisabeth. English literary afterlives: Greene, Sidney, Donne and the evolution of posthumous fame,

ISBN:

9781526144966

Publisher Number:

www.manchesterhive.com/view/9781526144966/9781526144966.xml

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.