The Author's Effects: On Writer's House Museums

The Author's Effects: On the Writer's House Museum explores how authorship has been mythologized through the conventions of the writer's house museum, tracing how and why the writer's bodily remains, possessions, and spaces came to be treasured in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It investigates houses within which nineteenth-century writers mythologized themselves and their work, and tracks literary tourists of the past to such long-celebrated literary homes.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 29 June 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The Author's Effects: On the Writer's House Museum is a groundbreaking work that delves into the fascinating phenomenon of writer's house museums across Britain, Europe, and North America. This insightful book explores the intricate ways in which authorship has been mythologized through the conventions of these museums, shedding light on the emergence, establishment, and enduring popularity of notions of authorship in relation to creativity.

Tracing the historical roots of the writer's house museum, The Author's Effects reveals how and why the physical remains, possessions, and spaces of writers became cherished in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, paving the way for the establishment of formal writer's house museums. Through extensive research, the book uncovers the stories behind celebrated and iconic relics, such as Burns's skull, Keats's hair, Petrarch's cat, Poe's raven, Brontë's bonnet, Dickinson's dress, Shakespeare's chair, Austen's desk, Woolf's spectacles, Hawthorne's window, Freud's mirror, Johnson's coffee-pot, and Bulgakov's stove, among many others.

In addition to exploring the physical aspects of writer's houses, The Author's Effects also investigates the mythologizing of writers and their work within these spaces. It examines houses where nineteenth-century writers constructed their own narratives, such as Thoreau's cabin and Dumas's tower, Scott's Abbotsford and Irving's Sunnyside. By examining the thoughts, feelings, and actions of literary tourists who visited these renowned literary homes, the book reveals deep continuities with the redevelopment of Shakespeare's New Place for 2016.

The Author's Effects is a meticulously researched and captivating exploration of the writer's house museum phenomenon. It offers valuable insights into the complex relationship between authorship, creativity, and cultural heritage, providing a rich tapestry of historical and literary narratives. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the literary world, history, and the enduring power of storytelling.

Weight: 548g
Dimension: 157 x 234 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198883548