Scarica CAMBRIDGE COMPANION chapter 4 e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! CAMBRIDGE COMPANION chapter 4 INTRODUCTION • The early modern conception of authorship is conditioned by two factors: 1. Invention of the printing press (in the 1450s in Germany by Gutemberg) it changed the physical presentation of the book from manuscript to printed form BUT manuscript culture did not disappear! It was a mark of higher social status 2. Protestant Reformation: the Reformation invited people to • Read the Scriptures directly, without mediation of the clergy, print enabled them to do so • question religious dogmas à sovereigns did and so started to do their subjects Main theses: there was not one specific idea of authorship in the sixteenth century, but more than one the author was only one of the «authorizing forces» of early modern writing SOCIAL STRUGGLES SURROUNDING THE PRESS • 1450s: Gutemberg, 1450s, invention of the movable type press • 1476: William Caxton set up the first press in London in 1476, when he printed Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (after learning the practice of printing in the Low Countries) Printing became a profitable industry but had to face the competition on the Continent • 1538 Henry VIII gave the power of censorship to the Privy Council (previously, it was exerted by the Church) • 1557: Stationers’ Company was given more power - they exerted control over illegal printing (printing without a licence e.g. John Wolfe was an illegal printer for many years) - avoided the importation of books from foreign countries • 1586: Elizabeth I gives the right of censorship back to the Church but it was not successful • Importance of the Reformation Catholic culture and religion iconography and ceremony v s Protestant culture and religion literacy and power of the book without mediation The individual is urged to participate in theological debates because he is allowed to access directly the word of God New sections of the population felt entitled to express their opinions and participate in these debates • Female aristocrats e.g. Katherine Parr (one of Henry VIII’s wives) • Educated lower gentry à partial popularization of religious debates • Use of the press against the Crown Ø 1572: Admonition to the Parliament à pamphlet war on matters of religious doctrine Ø 1588-89: Martin Marprelate pamphlet war à these anonymous pamphelts criticized bishops Ø 1579: John Stubbes was punished for criticizing the Queen’s intention to marry a Catholic prince, Francis, Duke of Anjou, in his pamphlet A Gaping Gulf Gascoigne and Spenser: a step forward in the progressive professionalization of letters Ben Jonson 1. fundamental development in the institutionalization of the literary profession first poet to publish a collection of his works in the folio format (1616) 2. contribution to the legitimation of drama first dramatist to oversee the printing of his works distinction between the version printed and the one acted on stage THE EARLY MODERN AUTHOR • Conception of authoship has changed over time: we cannot conceive authorship in the way Micheal Foucault and other 20th century critics do, i.e, as the most important and ultimate authority over his text. Nor can we apply the modern notion of copyright to early modern texts. • Early modern conception of authorship is not restricted to the author, i.e., the writer of the text: the «authorizing forces» shaping a text include, apart from the author himself, • The publisher (editore, proprietario della casa editrice) • The bookseller (libraio, venditore di libri) • The printer à the format of a book signals its prestige (folio> quarto> octavo> duodecimo) • The typesetter (colui che disponeva i caratteri nella matrice della macchina a stampa) • The reader à in a manuscript culture readers could intervene with comments in the margins or interpolate passages competing and coexisting conceptions of authorship - Sindney and Donne: manuscript aristocratic culture - Spenser and Jonson: use of the printed book to establish their identity and status as literary authors
