Origins of the Individualist Self

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This book explores the origins of modern English autobiographical writing, tracing its roots to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and connecting it to the emergence of contemporary concepts of self-identity. The author employs a cultural analytic framework, viewing autobiographical practice as a public performance that asserts new forms of self-identity. The analysis integrates technological and economic developments—such as advancements in reading, printing, and marketing—with institutional pressures aimed at social and religious control, all of which influenced the creation of modern autobiographical narratives. While early autobiographies are often associated with a male, middle-class perspective, the author reveals a more diverse array of historical agents involved in shaping the genre. Notably, although the roles of women and the poor were typically marginal, members of both groups played a significant part in the evolution of modern autobiography. By providing a genealogy of modern autobiography and its connection to the individualist self within the specific context of early modern England, the book challenges traditional, universalist narratives regarding the rise of individualism and its influence on political culture over the past two centuries.