This is a lively study of the autobiographical instinct in a variety of 16th and 17th century modes of writing in English, from letters and memoirs to pastoral, polemic and street ballads. The book's central concern is how "selves" are "betrayed" in texts, particularly in the centuries before the autobiography was a recognized genre. It suggests that self-representation in the early modern period was often indirect, emerging in oblique and surprising ways.

Henk Dragstra teaches English Literature, Sheila Ottway recently gained her PhD, and Helen Wilcox is Professor of English Literature, all at the Univerisity of Groningen, The Netherlands.