Title: Generating texts
First published: 1996
Description: In Generating Texts, Sharon Cadman Seelig tests traditional notions of genre by analyzing parallels between works that confound existing categories. Seelig pairs three seventeenth-century prose works with three other works, each of a later century: Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy with Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Browne's Religio Medici with Thoreau's Walden, and Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions with Eliot's Four Quartets.

Proceeding from her authors' similarities in method and common sets of assumptions (such as concern with process and discovery, time and eternity, or the nature of the self), she uncovers parallels showing that genre is not simply a set of formal features but rather a particular way of seeing the world that grows out of authorial attitude, impulse, and occasion.

In addition to its obvious appeal to students and scholars interested in Sterne, Thoreau, Eliot or seventeenth-century literature, Generating Texts should interest literary scholars and students more generally, particularly those concerned with the interconnections between literary periods and genres. Seelig has written an original and accessible contribution to the field of genre study.
Subjects: Intellectual life, Intertextuality, English prose literature, History and criticism, American literature, Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.), English influences, Four quartets (Eliot, T.S.), Devotions upon emergent occasions (Donne, John), Literatur, Walden (Thoreau, Henry David), Influence littéraire, artistique, Prose anglaise, Life and opinions of Tristram Shandy, gentleman (Sterne, Laurence), Anatomy of melancholy (Burton, Robert), Influence anglaise, Religio medici (Browne, Thomas, Sir), Littérature américaine, Early modern, Histoire et critique, Intertextualité, Rezeption, Devotions upon emergent occasions, Donne, john, 1572-1631, Browne, thomas, sir, 1605-1682, Burton, robert, 1577-1640, English prose literature, history and criticism, early modern, 1500-1700, American literature, foreign influences
Places: Great Britain, English-speaking countries
People: T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), John Donne (1572-1631), Laurence Sterne (1713-1768), Thomas Browne Sir (1605-1682), Robert Burton (1577-1640)
Time periods: Early modern, 1500-1700, 17th century
LC classification: PR769 .S44 1996