Authorship in context: from the theoretical to the material

Authorship in Context examines the transforming relation of criticism to the history of authorship and the book in relation to changing theoretical models of their study as well as the conditions (critical, historical, socio-economic, political and technological) behind their variability. By utilizing a materialist approach, it offers a fresh perspective to the diversity of the authorial function within as well as across fields and disciplines ranging from the nineteenth-century literary market-place to postmodern culture. In addition to genre, language and style, this book focuses on processes of textual production and reception, varying from the author's act of composition and publishing policies to editorial and reading practices. In examining their impact on canon formation, alongside visual technologies like the graphic novel, cinema and the world-wide web, it raises issues of class, gender, race or socio-political conflict that determine the fashioning of cultures, texts and authors