Description
Book SynopsisPortraying Authorship argues that the medieval Castilian writer Juan Manuel fashioned a seemingly modern authorial persona from the accumulation and synthesis of medieval authorial roles.
In the manuscript culture of medieval Castile and across Latin Europe, writers typically referred to their work in ways that corresponded to their role in the bookmaking process: scribes took credit for preserving the works of others, compilers for combining disparate texts in productive ways, commentators for explaining obscure works, and authors for writing their own words. Combining literary analysis with book history, Anita Savo reveals how Juan Manuel forged his authorial persona, Don Juan, by adopting all four medieval writerly roles, thereby reaping the ethical benefits of each one. Each chapter in Portraying Authorship highlights a different authorial role to show how Don Juan and others who wrote in his name assumed responsibility for that role and adapted its rh
