Reading, Writing, and the Self: Petrarch and His Forerunners

O NE OF THE TECHNIQUES for describing the self that evolves during the later ancient period involves the real or imagined use of reading and writing. The notion of the self thereby becomes interdependent with the subject's literary understanding. Augustine brings the method to perfection in the Confessions, and largely through his influence its importance grows during the critical period between ancient and early modem culture. By the end of the Middle Ages, the literary approach to the self occupies as important a place as the venerable concern with the self as an aspect of soul or mind. Petrarch plays a major role in the last phase of this development, which takes place between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. He describes relationships between reading, writing, and the self in unprec edented detail. His much discussed "modernity" and "individuality" are best understood in the context of his search for the manuscripts of ancient authors and his accompanying reflections on his own literary activities. His voluminous correspondence also bears witness to his desire to leave a predominantly literary portrait of himself for posterity. Even allowing for features of his approach which are his alone, it can be asked whether his manner of depicting the self belongs to a recogniz able tradition of thinking. If so, who are his forerunners? What are the direct and indirect channels by which their ideas find their way into his