ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the conflicted condition of the author at the turn of the seventeenth century, via his oscillation between self-negation and self-aggrandisement. It begins with a discussion of the Harvey-Nashe quarrel, with a focus on the way both repeatedly accused the other of self-love, which I suggest was a case of both projecting onto the other. This leads into an account of the Parnassus Plays which were in part inspired by the Cambridge graduates Harvey and Nashe, and dramatise the struggles of aspiring writers in London in the 1590s. This in turns leads to a consideration of another anonymous play, No-body and Some-body. I argue that metadramatic readings of this play highlight the ambiguous authorial position of the playwright, and also explain how Jonson had used the persona of Nobody in an entertainment for the new King in 1603. Finally, the metaphors of divine creation in poetry and drama of the period are also shown to express an equivocal attitude to artistic creativity, but Shakespeare was distinctive in placing faith not only in the poet’s imagination but in the imaginations of his audience too.
