
The Transformation of Authorship in America
Grantland Rice(Author)
University of Chicago Press
Published on 23. June 1997
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-0-226-71124-9 (ISBN)
Description
Most critics and historians consider that the emergence of a free press liberated 18th century American authors. In this study, the author seeks to overturn this view, arguing that the emergence of economic liberalism transformed American authorship into a market-oriented profession. Rice argues that the lapse of Puritan censorship, the consolidation of copyright law, and the explosion of a commercial print culture confronted writers in the United State with a striking predicament - the depoliticization and commodification of public expression. He seeks to show that the rigorous censorship practised by Puritan authorities conferred an implicit prestige on texts as civic interventions, helping to foster an indigenous tradition of sociopolitical criticism. With special attention to the sudden emergence of the novel in post-revolutionary America, Rice reveals how the emergence of economic liberalism undermined the earlier tradition of political writing by transforming American authorship from an expression of individual civic conscience to a market-oriented profession.
The text includes discussions of the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur and Hugh Henry Brackenridge.
The text includes discussions of the writings of Benjamin Franklin, Michel-Guillaume-Jean de Crevecoeur and Hugh Henry Brackenridge.
More details
Edition
New edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Edition type
New edition
Dimensions
Height: 228 mm
Width: 151 mm
Weight
330 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-71124-9 (9780226711249)
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Schweitzer Classification