Authorship and Authority: The Writings of James VI and I

by Rickard, Jane

• ISBN13: 9780719074868
• ISBN10: 071907486X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-01
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

James VI of Scotland and I of England participated in the literary culture of the Renaissance--not only as a monarch and patron but as an author in his own right. As the first monograph devoted to James as an author, this book offers a fresh perspective on his reigns in Scotland and England, and the interrelationship of authorship and authority, literature, and politics in the Renaissance. The book combines research into the preparation, material form, and circulation of these varied writings with theoretically informed consideration of the relationship between authors, texts, and readers. The discussion explores James's responses to a range of literary, political, and religious debates and reveals the development of his aims and concerns as an author.

Author Biography

Jane Rickard is Lecturer in 17th-Century English Literature at the University of Leeds

Table of Contents

Introduction: Reading James VI and I

Constructing the Writer--King: The Early Poetry

The Word of God and the Word of the King: The Early Scriptural Exegeses

Print, Authority, Interpretation: The Major Prose Works

Monumentalizing the Royal Author: The Workes (1616)

The Late Poetry and the Deconstruction of Authority

Afterword

Bibliography

Index

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