Ben Jonson and Possessive Authorship
Ben Jonson and Possessive Authorship
$72.00
USDWriting before the institution of copyright, Renaissance authors were not recognized as owning their works. Yet, in an environment in which the written word could be variously marketed by printers or by acting companies, and in which authors could be held uncomfortably responsible for their writings, we can discover complex stirrings of possessiveness among such writers as Bacon, Heywood, Daniel, Shakespeare, Wither, and--most powerfully and interestingly--Ben Jonson. This book probes the literary and institutional history, the politics, and the psychology of possessive authorship.
- A major contribution to the history of authorship
- A rapprochement between theatre history, history of the book and literary analysis
- Explores the paradox of possessiveness in Jonson, one of the greatest critics of modern acquisitiveness
Reviews & endorsements
"One of the crucial contributions Loewenstein makes to Ben Jonson studies involves his untangling of the competitive efforts of printers and stationers to corner the rights to Jonson's texts...Loewenstein's careful reconstruction of Jonson's intense and fractious history with his printers and the complex "story of proprietary negotiation" surrounding the Second Folio of 1640 adds to our understanding of Jonson's singular possessiveness about his texts." Renaissance Quarterly
"Ben Jonson and Possessive Authorship develops a gripping narrative about the serendipitous convergence of institutional competition, intellectual concern, and individual desire." Sixteenth Century Journal
"This, in short, is a stunning study." Studies in English Literature
"On every page of this book, readers will find something stimulating and challenging." Modern Philology
Product details
July 2007Paperback
9780521038188
236 pages
227 × 151 × 10 mm
0.362kg
7 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- 1. An introduction to bibliographical biography
- 2. Community properties
- 3. Upstart crows and other emergencies
- 4. Jonson, Martial and the mechanics of plagiarism
- 5. Scripts in the marketplace: Jonson and editorial repossession
- 6. Afterword: the second folio
- Index.
