Authorship as Alchemy Subversive Writing in Pushkin, Scott, and Hoffmann [Hardcover]

This book is an attempt to answer Michel Foucault's question, 'What is an author?' It examines the relationship between personal identity, the physical person of the writer, and the 'author' projected as a matter of public perception via the reception of written texts. It approaches this problem by analyzing the way Romantic writers play upon and subvert the 'author' position projected upon them in the public reception of their texts, and it sheds light on the use of anonyms and pseudonyms as strategies that subvert the emerging institution of authorship.Kropf examines the relationship between personal identity, the actual person of the writer, and the author projected as a matter of public perception via the reception of written texts. He approaches this problem by analyzing the way Romantic writers play upon and subvert the author position projected upon them in the public reception of their texts.