The emergence of the English author
Subtitle: scripting the life of the poet in early modern England
By: Kevin Pask.
Series: Cambridge studies in Renaissance literature and culture ;; 12
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Cambridge [England]; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 218
Subjects: Poets, English -- Biography -- History and criticism; English prose literature -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- History and criticism; Authorship -- Social aspects -- England -- History -- 16th century; Authorship -- Social aspects -- England -- History -- 17th century; English poetry -- History and criticism -- Theory, etc; Literary form -- History -- 16th century; Literary form -- History -- 17th century; Biography as a literary form; Poetry -- Authorship -- History; Canon (Literature)
Description: The historical construction of literary authorship has long been of particular interest to literary scholars. Yet an important aspect of the historical emergence of the author, the literary biography or "life of the poet" has received scant attention. In The emergence of the English author, Kevin Pask studies the early life-narratives of five now-canonical English poets: Geoffrey Chaucer, Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser, John Donne and John Milton.

By attending to the changing shape of the lives of these poets, Pask produces a history of the developing conception of literary authorship in England from the late medieval period to the end of the eighteenth century, and offers a long-term sociohistorical account of literary production. His book is the first full-scale history of the cultural construction of literary authority in early modern England.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 171-213) and index.