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This dissertation explores the development of prose fiction continuations from Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia to the novels of Samuel Richardson. Examining instances in which a text was continued by someone other than its original author, I ask precisely what this distinction means historically: what factors create a system of literary value in which certain continuations are defined as ‘spurious,’ and how does the discourse surrounding these texts participate in changing attitudes toward authorship, originality, and narrative closure? My work thus contributes to recent critical efforts to historicise authorship and literary property, using prose fiction examples that have not previously been discussed in this context. Analysing the rhetorical strategies found within paratextual materials such as prefaces, dedications, and advertisements, I establish how writers of continuations discuss the motivations for their works, how these are marketed and received, and how the authors of the source texts (or their representatives) respond to them. Through close reading, the dissertation traces the development of persistent metaphors for literary property across these texts, focusing on images of land, paternity, and the author’s ‘spirit.’ The introductory chapter addresses these metaphors’ significance, defines the main elements of continuations, and situates them within the historical context of a growing print marketplace and developments in copyright law. The dissertation then presents a series of case studies of the most documentarily-rich instances of continuation across the period. Starting with The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, published posthumously in an incompletely-revised form, Chapter 2 shows how its gaps allowed other writers to continue the story, while Chapter 3 studies the metaphorical approaches to authorship taken in the continuations’ paratexts. Chapter 4 examines two Restoration texts, The English Rogue and The Pilgrim’s Progress, which combine the Arcadia continuations’ concern about the author’s honour with issues of commercial competition. The intersection of profit, reputation and copyright protection brought out in this chapter is reflected in the subsequent discussion of the career of Samuel Richardson. Chapter 5 shows him responding to public challenges to his authorial control following the success of Pamela, whereas Chapter 6 explores the more private assertions of authority taking place within Richardson’s correspondence during the publication of Clarissa and Sir Charles Grandison. Finally, my conclusion summarises the subsequent legal and critical privileging of original over continuation, emphasising the historical contingency of this process. The broad chronological scope of the dissertation allows the frames of all these texts to inform each other for the first time, crossing the established critical boundary between the ‘romance’ and the ‘novel.’ This approach reveals continuities as well as differences, enabling me to construct a more nuanced picture of Early Modern approaches to prose continuations and authorial ownership. In establishing links between law and literature, the project also provides an important historical context for contemporary debates about copyright, fanfiction, and literary property.

ABSTRACT One's daily life consists of collecting objects, images, ideas, fears and dreams. These items and concepts do not conjure themselves, but are selected like so many berries in a basket. I question what objects people choose to showcase in their homes, their trophies and shrines. These types of objects serve to validate their owner's beliefs and through their collection, elevate that person's status. In what items does one subconsciously invest their identity? My work speaks to the value of the collected once transformed. In my practice I juxtapose ideals held separately and simultaneously about the value and import of ceramic art. I use kitsch and ceramics as a vocabulary and platform that is universal, but through its construction and relationships can simultaneously speak specifically to one person, one region or one understanding. I use campy humor and novelty to undermine the works integrity while attracting the viewer. These works question the merits of my heritage and pedigree. I want the work to give an impression of environmental factors that shape the experience and expectations of a Southern man. Selecting objects of various materials, they are transformed into porcelain, altering their value. Many of these objects have a previous identity. I can claim ownership only of the concept and finished product. In adding gaudy and attention-grabbing stimuli, I foolishly attempt to bestow a higher status on each piece. In this way, the work parallels the condition of a middle-class life.

Early nineteenth-century Eurocentric perceptions of natural history led to the flora and fauna of Australia being thought of as deficient and inferior compared with those of other lands. By the 1820s, Australia had become known as the land of contrarieties . This, and Eurocentric attitudes to nature in general, influenced the expectations and perceptions of immigrants throughout the century. Yet at the same time there was developing an aesthetic appreciation of the natural history of Australia. This thesis examines the tension between these two perceptions in the popular natural history writing of the nineteenth century, mainly through the writing of five authors George Bennett (1804-1893), Louisa Anne Meredith (1812-1895), Samuel Hannaford (1937-1874), Horace Wheelwright (1815-1865) and Donald Macdonald (1859?-1932). George Bennett was a scientist, who saw Australian plants and animals more as scientific specimens than objects of beauty. Louisa Meredith perceived them in the familiar language of English romantic poetry. Samuel Hannaford used another language, that of popular British natural history writers of the mid-nineteenth century. To Horace Wheelwright, Australian animals were equally valuable to the sportsman s gun as to the naturalist s pen. Donald Macdonald was the only one of these major writers to have been born in Australia. Although proud of his British heritage, he rejoiced in the beauty of his native land. His writing demonstrates his joy, and his novel attitude to Australian natural history continued and developed in the present century.

Somewhere is most general histories and outlines of English literature, the greatness of the King James Bible and its influence on all of English literature since 1611 have been pointed out. Unquestionably, all men of letters in the English language since that time have known of the King James Bible; and many of them may have been decidedly influenced by its tradition of cadenced prose and its prose figures.The great deal of research would have to be done in order to establish conclusively the influence of the Prayer Book upon all writers from 1549 to the present time. If this thesis stimulates any other worker to make a study in the general problem, it will have far exceeded its present purposes. For this approaches only one small aspect of the problem.Samuel Johnson is an obvious subject for such a study, because he attended the Church of England;1 he knew the Prayer Book well;2 in fact, he was such a good Church of England man that Boswell records in the Life at least two occasions when Johnson was offered a position in the Church.33 Furthermore, Johnson was preeminently a prose writer and used an ornate style. This combination of devoutness and literary ability makes of him ripe material for an investigation of the influence of the Prayer Book on an English writer.There is another reason why Johnson should make a good subject for study. He lived in an age that was a part of the same Renaissance tradition that produced the Bible and the Prayer Book. In fact, it has been pointed out that Johnson was the last of the great Renaissance humanists.4.The problem that this study attempts to solve, then, is "Did the Book of Common Prayer have any influence on Samuel Johnson's prose style?" Although many other problems have arisen in the course of this work, no attempt will be made to solve any of them; showing that the Prayer Book did influence at least part of Johnson's writing will be the single purpose of this paper