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Historicizing Life-Writing and Egodocuments in Early Modern Europe

  • Book
  • © 2022

Overview

Editors:
  1. James R. Farr

    1. Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Guido Ruggiero

    1. University of Miami, Coral Gables, USA

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  • Considers the potential contributions of historical scholarship to the field of life-Writing

  • Places life-writing and egodocument history in conversation

  • Considers the development of ideas of the self and the individual in early modern Europe

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
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  2. Introduction: Historicizing Life-Writing and Egodocuments in Early Modern Europe

    • James R. Farr, Guido Ruggiero
    Pages 1-16

  5. Pushing the Limits of Life-Writing with a Wider Range of Historical Sources

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 207-207
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    2. Lives in Letters: Italian Renaissance Correspondence as Life-Writing

      • Deanna Shemek
      Pages 209-242

    3. A Dutch Notary and His Clients

      • Mary Lindemann
      Pages 243-268

    4. Genres and Modes of Women’s Life-Writing: Anne Clifford and Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans

      • Mihoko Suzuki
      Pages 269-312

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 313-319
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Keywords

About this book

This volume historicizes the study of life-writing and egodocuments, focusing on early modern European reflections on the self, self-fashioning, and identity. Life-writing and the study of egodocuments currently tend to be viewed as separate fields, yet the individual as a purposive social actor provides significant common ground and offers a vehicle, both theoretical and practical, for a profitable synthesis of the two in a historical context. Echoing scholars from a wide-range of disciplines who recognize the uncertainty of the nature of the self, these essays question the notion of the autonomous self and the attendant idea of continuous identity unfolding in a unified personality. Instead, they suggest that the early modern self was variable and unstable, and can only be grasped by exploring selves situated in specific historical and social/cultural contexts and revealed through the wide range of historical documents considered here. The three sections of the volume consider: first, the theoretical contexts of understanding egodocuments in early modern Europe; then, the practical ways egodocuments from the period may be used for writing life-histories today; and finally, a wider range of historical documents that might be added to what are usually seen as egodocuments.

Reviews

“Editors James R. Farr and Guido Ruggiero have fashioned a compelling collection of essays that explore and enlighten on a subject … . I found the variety of treatments of the general theme not only interesting but helpful and revealing. The distinct methods and points of view that each of these contributors brought to bear on their subjects has created a series of essays that, collectively, provide a greater depth of understanding of the general theme.” (Alex Hunnicutt, H-Net Reviews, h-net.org, March, 2023)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA

    James R. Farr

  • University of Miami, Coral Gables, USA

    Guido Ruggiero

About the editors

James R. Farr is the Germaine Seelye Oesterle Professor of History at Purdue University, USA. He is the author of several books and articles on European history.

Guido Ruggiero is the College of Arts and Sciences Cooper Fellow and Professor of History at the University of Miami, USA. He has published numerous articles and books on Italian Renaissance history and culture.


Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Historicizing Life-Writing and Egodocuments in Early Modern Europe

  • Editors: James R. Farr, Guido Ruggiero

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82483-9

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: History, History (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-82482-2Published: 12 January 2022

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-82485-3Published: 13 January 2023

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-82483-9Published: 12 January 2022

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XV, 319

  • Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations, 19 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Cultural History, History of Early Modern Europe, Literary History

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