![]() | Framing Authority: Sayings, Self, and Society in Sixteenth-Century England Subjects: English literature -- Early modern 1500–1700 -- History and criticism -- Theory etc.; Literature and society -- England -- History -- 16th century; English literature -- Classical influences; Frame-stories -- History and criticism; Commonplace-books --; Writers in sixteenth-century England often kept commonplace books in which to jot down notable fragments encountered during reading or conversation, but few critics have fully appreciated the formative influence this activity had on humanism. Focusing on the discursive practices of "gathering" textual fragments and "framing" or forming, arranging, and assimilating them, Mary Crane shows how keeping commonplace books made up the English humanists' central transaction with antiquity and provided an influential model for authorial practice and authoritative self-fashioning. She thereby revises our perceptions of English humanism, revealing its emphasis on sayings, collectivism, shared resources, anonymous inscription, and balance of power--in contrast to an aristocratic mode of thought, which championed individualism, imperialism, and strong assertion of authorial voice. |
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