Synopses & Reviews
Before the development of a full-blown literary "market" in which an author might hope to make an independent living, books were brought to readers with considerable assistance from patronage. Dustin Griffin offers the first comprehensive study of the system of literary patronage in early modern England. Combining the perspectives of literary, social, and political history, he lays out the workings of the system and shows how authors wrote within it, manipulating it to their advantage or resisting the claims of patrons by advancing counterclaims of their own.
Review
"Explores boldly and intelligently the complex relationships among various forms of monetary reward and symbolic capital....Rigorously argued and well-researched, this study offers a compelling rereading of the culture of late-seventeenth and eighteenth-century patronage." Studies in English Literature"Dustin Griffin's admirable and exemplary study conveys good news to the scholarly community....it opens a discussion of the real influences on the patronage system on eighteenth-century letters and invites further analysis. Such an analysis of how the system affected the myriad minor and women authors remains to be considered, but Griffin has provided the necessary framework and set an exemplary critical standard." Betty Rizzo, Eighteenth-Century Fiction"...clearly written, substantive, and well-argued...." "...Griffin's important book...will inevitably testify to the considerable strength of the case it makes." Robert C. Evans, Albion"Dutin Griffin's Literary Patronage in England thoroughly examines patronage practices throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and concludes with a chapter tracing the continuance of patronage into the careers of Crabbe and Burns." John Kandl, The Wordsworth Circle"Dustin Griffin's necessary and welcome book on literary patronage in England's aggrandized eighteenth century is now the most thoughtful and important account of its subject." Robert Folkenflik, Bibliographical Society of America
Synopsis
The first comprehensive study of the system of literary patronage in early modern England.
Synopsis
Dustin Griffin offers the first comprehensive study of the system of literary patronage in early modern England. Combining the perspectives of literary, social and political history, he lays out the workings of the system and shows how authors resisted the claims of patrons by advancing counterclaims of their own.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-308) and index.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction; 2. The cultural economics of literary patronage; 3. The politics of patronage; 4. John Dryden; 5. Jonathan Swift; 6. Alexander Pope; 7. Edward Young and Richard Savage; 8. Mary Leapor and Charlotte Lennox; 9. Samuel Johnson; 10. The persistence of patronage; 11. Conclusion; Bibliography; Index.