Description
Book SynopsisMost 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.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Pt. I: The Transformation of Authorship 1: The World Turned Upside Down: Sociopolitical Criticism in Puritan America 2: The Rise of a Free Press and the Erosion of a Public Sphere: The Zenger Case Reconsidered 3: Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and Republican Print Rationality 4: Liberalism and Republication: The Problem of Copyright for Authorship in America Pt. II: The Aesthetic Response 5: Crevecoeur and Strategies of Accommodation 6: Brackenridge and the Resistance to Textual Authority Pt. III: The Rhetoric of Fiction 7: Authorial Coquetry and the Early American Novel Afterword Notes Bibliography Index
