Doubtful readers print, poetry, and the reading public in early modern England / Erin A. McCarthy.
| Author/creator | McCarthy, Erin A. |
| Other author | Oxford University Press. |
| Format | Electronic |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Publication Info | Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020. |
| Description | xviii, 277 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm |
| Supplemental Content | Full text available from Oxford Scholarship Online |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Reading printed poetry in early modern England -- Typography, genre, and authorship in The Passionate Pilgrim (1599) and Shakespeares Sonnets (1609) -- Selling the illusion of access: readers and multiple dedications in Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (1611) -- Poems, by J.D. (1633 and 1635), the O'Flahertie Manuscript, and the many careers of John Donne -- "Nor is the printing of such miscellanies...unpresidented": poetic authorship after Poems, by J.D. (1635). |
| Summary | When poetry was printed, poets and their publishers could no longer take for granted that readers would have the necessary knowledge and skill to read it well. By making poems available to anyone who either had the means to a buy a book or knew someone who did, print publication radically expanded the early modern reading public. These new readers, publishers feared, might not buy or like the books. Worse, their misreadings could put the authors, the publishers, or the readers themselves at risk.0Doubtful Readers: Print, Poetry, and the Reading Public in Early Modern England focuses on early modern publishers' efforts to identify and accommodate new readers of verse that had previously been restricted to particular social networks in manuscript. Focusing on the period between the maturing of the market for printed English literature in the 1590s and the emergence of the professional poet following the Restoration, this study shows that poetry was shaped by-and itself shaped-strong print publication traditions. By reading printed editions of poems by William Shakespeare, Aemilia Lanyer, John Donne, and others, this book shows how publishers negotiated genre, gender, social access, reputation, literary knowledge, and the value of English literature itself. It uses literary, historical, bibliographical, and quantitative evidence to show how publishers' strategies changed over time. Ultimately, Doubtful Readers argues that although-or perhaps because-publishers' interpretive and editorial efforts are often elided in studies of early modern poetry, their interventions have had an enduring impact on our canons, texts, and literary histories. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 226-251) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2019941493 |
| ISBN | 0198836473 hardback |
| ISBN | 9780198836476 hardback |