Representations of the Self from the Renaissance to Romanticism (Hardcover)

Hardcover. In this volume a team of international contributors explore the way modern conceptions of what constitutes an individual's life-story emerged in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. The Enlightenment idea of the self - an autonomous individual, testing rules imposed from without against a personal sensibility nourished from within - is today vigorously contested. By analysing early-modern 'life writing' in all its variety, from private diaries and correspondences to public confessions and philosophical portraits, this volume shows that the relation between self and community is more complex and more intimate than supposed. Spanning the period from the end of the Renaissance to the eve of Romanticism in Western Europe, a period in which the explosion of print culture afforded unprecedented opportunities for the circulation of life stories from all classes, this book examines the public assertion of self by men and women in England, France and Germany from the Renaissance to Romanticism. In this volume a team of international contributors explore the history of early-modern autobiography in all its variety, from private diaries and correspondences to public confessions and philosophical portraits. The book spans a period from 1600 to 1800 in which the explosion of print culture afforded opportunities for 'life-writing'. This item is printed on demand. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.…