Early Modern English Lives examines sixteenth- and seventeenth-century autobiographical practices in key contexts and modes of self-representation. Moving between diaries, letters, journals, memoirs, household and personal accounts, and major autobiographical texts, the study explores the social and historical conditions that shaped early modern life-writing. The authors argue that expressions of personal identity, along with the notion of privacy itself, involved an elaborate interplay of generic roles and cultural discourses.

Contents: Introduction. Part 1 Early Modern Autobiography and Time: A life in time; Time, death and memorialization. Part 2 Reflections: Selves and Others: Looking outward: travelling selves; Framing a reflected self: language and the mirror. Part 3 The Self At War: Military Diaries and Journals: The expedition to Cadiz, 1625; Besieged cities: The Civil War. Part 4 Women And Life-Writing: A gendered genre: autobiographical writings by 3 early modern women; Women's wills; Bibliography; Index.

Ronald Bedford teaches in the School of English, Communication and Theatre at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia. Lloyd Davis taught in the School of English, Media and Art History at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Early Modern English Lives was one of Lloyd's last projects, as he died shortly before its completion. Philippa Kelly is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of English at the University of New South Wales, Australia.