Book contents
- The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship
- The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Historical Perspectives
- Part II Systematic Perspectives
- Part III Practical Perspectives
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 June 2019
- The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship
- The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Historical Perspectives
- Part II Systematic Perspectives
- Part III Practical Perspectives
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Why do texts and readers need authors? Why is “authorship talk” so prevalent in literary conversations – whether at book fairs, book clubs, or readers’ groups, in literary magazines, newspapers, university seminars, or social media? These questions may seem absurd, at least to those who are blissfully unaware of, or have happily moved on from, twentieth-century debates about “the intentional fallacy,” “the death of the author,” or indeed his or her “return.”1 But, as we hope to show in this handbook, these questions have a relevance for literary studies that transcends the theory wars of the past or the narrow confines of the discipline itself. They are – or should be – central to the field if only because questions of authorship are of great popular interest, given the media attention devoted to, for instance, celebrity authors and the size of their advances, accusations of plagiarism, the gender of an anonymous author, or the Shakespeare authorship cottage industry.2
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Handbook of Literary Authorship , pp. 1 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019