Anonymity in eighteenth-century Italian publishing : the absent author / Lodovica Braida.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Braida, Lodovica, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

New directions in book history

New directions in book history, 2634-6117

Standardized Title:

Autore assente. English

Language:

English

Italian

Subjects (All):

Italian literature--18th century--History and criticism.

Italian literature.

Anonymous writings, Italian--18th century--History and criticism.

Anonymous writings, Italian.

Publishers and publishing--Italy--History--18th century.

Publishers and publishing.

Authorship.

authorship.

Italy.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History

Physical Description:

xi, 222 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 21 cm.

Other Title:

Anonymity in 18th-century Italian publishing

Absent author

Place of Publication:

Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, an imprint of Springer Nature Switzerland Ag, [2022]

Language Note:

Translated from the Italian.

Summary:

This book focuses on the different forms in which authorship came to be expressed in eighteenth-century Italian publishing. It analyses both the affirmation of the "author function", and, above all, its paradoxical opposite: the use of anonymity, a centuries-old practice present everywhere in Europe but often neglected by scholarship. The reasons why authors chose to publish their works anonymously were manifold, including prudence, fear of censorship, modesty, fear of personal criticism, or simple divertissement. In many cases, it was an ethical choice, especially for ecclesiastics. The Italian case provides a key perspective on the study of anonymity in the European context, contributing to the analysis of an overlooked topic in academic studies. Lodovica Braida is Professor of History of the Book at the University of Milan, Italy. Her work is devoted to the history of written culture and reading practices in early modern Europe, particularly in Italy, in a perspective of sociocultural history that dialogues with bibliography, literary criticism, and intellectual history.

Contents:

1 Introduction. The Absent Author: Functions and Uses of Anonymous Authorship

Chapter 2 The Ambiguities of the "Author Function"

Chapter 3 Anonymity in Travel Books

Chapter 4 Giuseppe Parini: Between Anonymity and Revealing the Authors Name

Chapter 5 Carlo Goldoni and the Construction of Authorship

Chapter 6 Novels: Read Them and Forget Them.

Notes:

First published in Italian as: L'autore assente : l'anonimato nell'editoria italiana del Settecento. Bari : GLF editori Laterza, 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9783031038976

3031038975

OCLC:

1328012259