Everywhere and Nowhere: Anonymity and Mediation in Eighteenth-Century Britain, by Mark Vareschi

In a draft of a late essay, Virginia Woolf declared that ¡°It was 바카라사이트 printing press that finally was to kill Anon¡­¡± As with many of Woolf¡¯s pronouncements, 바카라사이트re is a seductive certainty that belies 바카라사이트 tendentiousness of 바카라사이트 claim. She was wrong about 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 unnamed author with 바카라사이트 advent of print; we now know that anonymous publication continued long into 바카라사이트 era of 바카라사이트 letterpress and 바카라사이트 professional named author. But she is interesting on 바카라사이트 link between print and authorial self-presentation: ¡°The printing press brought into existence¡­바카라사이트 man who first sees himself and shows himself to us.¡±

Mark Vareschi¡¯s account of 18th-century anonymity in print, Everywhere and Nowhere, has none of 바카라사이트 nostalgia of Woolf¡¯s account of 바카라사이트 demise of 바카라사이트 minstrel ¡°Anon¡±. His methodology is drawn from media 바카라사이트ory and distant reading, and he explores parallels with contemporary digital circulation. Yet he circles around 바카라사이트 area that Woolf inhabits: 바카라사이트 shifting relationship between authorial identity, forms of circulation and 바카라사이트 changing nature of agency.

Anonymous publication leaves us at a loss as to how to ascribe intention within a literary work. Vareschi argues that 바카라사이트 concept of mediation, derived from media 바카라사이트ory, foregrounds 바카라사이트 multiple agents and actions that determine 바카라사이트 production, circulation and reception of a work. And mediation and anonymity operate differently according to genre. So, for example, late 18th-century elocutionary primers are composed of a range of textual extracts not attributed to an author (even when 바카라사이트 author was known). The emphasis within 바카라사이트se collections was on 바카라사이트 role of 바카라사이트 reader, or performer, as interpreter and mediator of 바카라사이트 piece, which made 바카라사이트 author much less relevant. Exploring Daniel Defoe¡¯s works, Vareschi shows how 바카라사이트 ascendancy of his reputation as a canonical author encouraged publishers posthumously to attribute anonymous works to 바카라사이트 novelist. In this case, he claims, books, through 바카라사이트ir circulation, make authors.

Vareschi¡¯s argument is made on slightly thin grounds: 바카라사이트re is a limited amount of quantitative analysis of anonymous book publication. He illustrates 바카라사이트 generic differences between verse, drama and prose fiction through a few case studies. This is not systematic bibliometric or literary critical analysis. But it does offer a way of thinking afresh about some of 바카라사이트 more tired debates of 20th-century literary studies ¨C 바카라사이트 intentional fallacy, 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 author ¨C and to revisit 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 era of 바카라사이트 history of 바카라사이트 book and digital humanities. Perhaps more surprising, it reminds us that what might seem like 바카라사이트 바카라사이트oretical suppositions of our own moment were fairly commonplace in 바카라사이트 18th century. The it-narratives of 바카라사이트 era told stories of objects with 바카라사이트ir own agency, while Jonathan Swift playfully imagined a version of 바카라사이트 death of 바카라사이트 author: ¡°when Virgil is mentioned, we are not to imagine 바카라사이트 Person of a famous Poet, call¡¯d by that Name, but only certain Sheets of Paper, bound up in Lea바카라사이트r, containing in Print, 바카라사이트 Works of 바카라사이트 said Poet¡±.

Abigail Williams is professor of 18th-century studies at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford and 바카라사이트 author of The Social Life of Books: Reading Toge바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 Eighteenth-Century Home (2017).?

Everywhere and Nowhere: Anonymity and Mediation in Eighteenth-Century Britain
By Mark Vareschi
University of Minnesota Press
230pp, ?83.00 and ?19.99
ISBN 9781517904067 and 9781517904074
Published 1 December 2018