The Author as Annotator - Ambiguities of Self-Annotation in Pope and Byron

What literary and social functions do self-annotations (i.e. footnotes and endnotes that authors appended to their own works) serve? Focussing on Alexander Pope's Dunciads and a wide selection of Lord Byron's poems, Lahrsow shows that literary self-annotations rarely just explain a text. Rather, they multiply meanings and pit different voices against each other. Self-annotations serve to ambiguate the author's self-presentation as well as the genre, tone, and overall interpretation of a text.The study also examines how notes were employed for 'social networking' and how authors used self-annotations to address, and differentiate between, various groups of readerships.Additionally, the volume sheds light on the wider literary and cultural context of self-annotations: How common were they during the long eighteenth century? What conventions governed them? And were they even read? The study hence combines literary analysis with insights into book history and the history of reading.

About the author

Miriam Lahrsow received her PhD from Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, Germany. She now works as an academic librarian.

Product details

• Authors: Miriam Lahrsow
• Publisher: Brill Schöningh
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 27.09.2022
• EAN: 9783506795281
• ISBN: 978-3-506-79528-1
• No. of pages: 450
• Dimensions: 157 mm x 33 mm x 237 mm
• Weight: 812 g
• Illustrations: 4 Tabellen, 1 SW-Abb.
• Series: Beiträge zur englischen und amerikanischen Literatur; Beiträge zur englischen und amerikanischen Literatur 42
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies