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Lädt ... William Caxton: A biography (1976)von George D. Painter
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Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. Judge not, that ye be not judged. That was the thought that instantly came to me as I read George Duncan Painter's constant carps against his predecessors for mis-dating events, or mis-reading texts, or accepting information on inadequate authority. For while Painter may have done better than the others at readings the texts of William Caxton, he has done far worse at reading simple English history. The most obvious and extreme example of this is his accounts of Richard of Gloucester, the future Richard III. There remains much doubt over how evil and power-mad Richard was. But it is certain that he was not the sociopath that Shakespeare describes. Yet Painter swallows the Shakespeare tradition hook, line, and sinker, even when we know that Shakespeare was making things up! Does this matter to our understanding of William Caxton? Frankly, no. But when Painter goes out on limbs of reconstruction to determine when Caxton printed certain of his books, or what Caxton was doing at particular times, his willingness to swallow false history is very disturbing -- how can we trust his judgment? Plus it's genuinely unpleasant to read all those barbed little comments aimed at his predecessors. Painter may have enjoyed it, but you probably won't. We aren't here for scholarly battles; we're here to read about England's first printer. The good news is, amid all the information you can't trust, there is a lot of genuinely useful typographic scholarship that can and should help us date important works of English literature -- the works of Chaucer and Malory and others that Caxton printed. In that regard, Painter does us a genuine service. But I wish I hadn't had to relive all his petty scholarly controversies along the way. Zeige 2 von 2 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
"In this biography I have described and discussed every known Caxton document and edition, both intrinsically and in relation to the events, persons, and movements of contemporary history in which Caxton was so intimately involved. I have tried to rectify the disconcertingly many established and hitherto unsuspected errors of fact or inference in the work of WIlliam Blades, E.G. Duff, W.J.B. Crotch and others, to bring new light and truth to all aspects of Caxton's career from independent study of the primary sources, and to write for the general reader, the student, and the specialist scholar alike. New conclusions are reached on Caxton's family connections, his early activities as apprentice in London and cloth-trader at Bruges, his appointment and fall as Governor of the English merchants in the Low Countries, his diplomatic missions in the protracted trade negotiations of the 1460s, his discovery of his vocation for writing anf printing, his relationships with his instructor Johann Veldener and Colard Mansion his associate, and the foundation and chronology of his first press at Bruges. I show that it was from Mansion and the Bruges scribal tradition that Caxton borrowed and adapted his practices, otherwise unique among fifteenth-century printers, of writing his own translations for publication, obtaining commissions for these and other works from royal or noble patrons, and introducing them with original prologues and epilogues as a vehicle for political or personal propaganda on behalf of his clients. Caxton's hitherto unrealised function as a Yorkist and Tudor propagandist is explored in detail as a major key to his entire career as a printer. New information is given on the sources and authorship of Caxton texts previously misattributed, and dates are supplied on new typographical and other evidence for many of Caxton's undated editions."--Foreward. Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Cracks start to appear when he moves on to Caxton’s time as a diplomat. Painter fails to properly introduce the political players involved so we’re left adrift in a sea of names. At other times the reverse is the problem. He may mention some person who was tangentially involved with Caxton and gives their entire bloody life story in a footnote only for them never to appear again. It’s impossible to know at the time what information your brain needs to retain. His account of the printing business is sometimes interesting, sometimes dull. How is it possible to make an account of the first books printed in England dull? Painter is not a particularly good writer and at times this reads like a source book for a real biographer to use. ( )