The author's complaint: A study of the light shed upon literary and critical conditions by the aspirations and dissatisfactions of the author in the mid-Tudor period (1550-1580)

Abstract

This study attempts to throw fresh light on literary and critical conditions in the mid-Tudor period by a re-examination of the status of literature and the author. In addition to an Investigation of actual conditions in the bookworld and the remuneration of writers, the authors' own complaints have been examined. Supplementing the information given by critical works, the prefaces and dedications of the period show three main pre-occupations which seemed worth investigating; these were:- (a) the complaint of the decline of patronage, (b) the fear of attack, (c) the defence of venturing into print, including, generally a defence of the book, and, frequently, an attempt to depute responsibility for publication. It has been possible to show that- (a) patronage was not so much decayed as changed in character;(b) the fear of attack is connected with both the social status of the author and the type of work - secular and amorous verse by the gently born, was on religious and utilitarian grounds, the most vulnerable. No evidence of expressed hostility can be found to account for this general fear, which is strongest among authors of the impoverished gentry classes.(c) the defence was not regarded with much seriousness by authors and readers; attempts to pass off a publication as unauthorised being often so carelessly carried out as to be useless. All three elements were found to be traditional and conventional to a high degree. The investigation also revealed that:- (i) dedication is practically confined to authors of the middle social classes, (ii) there exists a recognised form of prefatory epistle which derives from rhetorical training and practice. Authors were not fully adjusted to the change in conditions since the end of the medieval period and the introduction of printing. This fact, the unsatisfactory remuneration of authors, and the conservative distrust of the press, which prevented or delayed the emergence of new, secular verse experiment, were all retarding factors in an age which possessed no Spenser and no broadly-based popular drama.