Performing Authorship: How Women Writers Defined Authorship In Eighteenth-Century Britain

@mastersthesis{bruening2020,
  title = {Performing Authorship: How Women Writers Defined Authorship In Eighteenth-Century Britain},
  author = {Bruening, Megan},
  year = {2020},
  keywords = {Authorship, British Literature, eighteenth century, Women Writers},
  abstract = {This project focuses on how women writers in Eighteenth-Century Britain defined authorship. Examining four case studies (Eliza Haywood, Sarah Fielding, Fanny Burney, and Jane Austen) I argue that the defining function of authorship is the creation and regulation of a community of readers; within this community, the author cyclically creates and re-creates her textual, interpretive authority. Each author I study uses different strategies to achieve this community function and creates a unique dynamic between the author and the reader. This dissertation forces us to reevaluate the way that we define authorship; authorship is not a static label or identity but a fluctuating process of managing a community through textual interpretation. This definition also helps readers to understand why certain women authors (namely Jane Austen) survived for a longer period than others; the difference lies in the creation and management of a community that continues to entice readers to reenter the text and seek the author’s authorized interpretations.},
  language = {English},
}