Anonymity
Subtitle: a Secret history of English literature
By: John Mullan.
Publisher: Princeton Univiversity Press; Princeton University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 347
ISBN-13: 9780691139418
Subjects: Anonymous writings, English -- History and criticism.; English literature -- History and criticism.; Authors, English.
Description: "Some of the greatest works in English literature were first published without their authors' names. Why did so many authors want to be anonymous and what was it like to read their books without knowing for certain who had written them? In Anonymity, John Mullan gives a history of hidden identity in English literature. From the sixteenth century to today, he explores how the disguises of writers were first used and eventually penetrated, how anonymity teased readers and bamboozled critics - and how, when book reviews were also anonymous, reviewers played tricks of their own in return."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [337]-351) and index.
Table of contents: title: Mischief; title: Modesty; title: Women being men; title: Men being women; title: Danger; title: Reviewing; title: Mockery and devilry; title: Confession; title: Epilogue.