Read on Twitter
Happy Martin Luther King Day. I have an essay to write but I did promise a quick Margo's romp thru lit history. This romp is brought to you by the system of patronage which continues to exist but people get weird about using the word. 1/
Spenser, Edmund born circa 1552, died circa January 13, 1599
Not much info on origins but most likely working class. Did go to Cambridge (Marlowe's alma but that's another lit hist romp and much more fun) and hooked up with Lord Gray (see Ireland). 2/
Not much info on origins but most likely working class. Did go to Cambridge (Marlowe's alma but that's another lit hist romp and much more fun) and hooked up with Lord Gray (see Ireland). 2/
Why is Eddie S important to me: the man wrote The f*cking Faerie Queene 
(a very long poem), and I've read the entire f*cking epic romance five times (yeah, I know but it really does tell you a lot about me). 3/
(a very long poem), and I've read the entire f*cking epic romance five times (yeah, I know but it really does tell you a lot about me). 3/
Eddie played the system of literary patronage. Lots have been written about it so.... Let's just say, a writer attaches himself (95% were men when Eddie wrote) to an aristo who provides room and board and chump change in exchange for literary mentions. 4/
Now Eddie was smart. When he wrote FQ, he didn't just dedicate it to the usual lords and ladies. Nah, he went for the gold: Elizabeth I, Queen of England (aka Lizzie) and the OG of the English Empire (all those letters and marques of patent). 5/
What Eddie didn't tell folk, though if they were readers they knew, FQ wasn't an original. He strolled into Cambridge library (ok, I'm making this up) and lifted from protected cases the following works: Aethiopica, Gerusalem Liberata, and Orlando Furioso. 6/
My man probably pocketed a few others but there's no proof. He writes FQ and dedicates it to Lizzie. She promises him 50 pounds/year. Patronage. (NB: Queenie didn't regularly pay her bills so Eddie didn't see the $$ on a regular basis.) 7/
Eddie being the enterprising soul, pimped out another form of patronage: a book publisher. In 1590 FQ Books 1-3 was printed/published by William Ponsonby. The entire 12 books were printed/published in 1596. 8/
Royalties werent a thing so Eddie received payment for the book and gave up all rights to copy. He was paid once--that was it. However, enterprising Eddie made Ponsonby "printer/publisher of choice" and wrote stuff and dedicated it to aristo folk. 9/
So, for most of his life Eddie Spenser survived by writing fanfic and pimping it for patronage, although I'm sure things become a bit tight when Walter Raleigh got too big for his breeches and gave up his head (a diff hist romp). 10/
My point: when people start to talk about these writers as if they weren't worker bees and plagarists, I have to shake my head at the absence of cultural, socioeconomic, and political context in the way literature is routinely taught.
Bye, off to write.
Bye, off to write.
