The Power of the Scribe: Delegated Writing in Modern Europe

Abstract

Although historians of modern literacy acknowledge the presence of ‘scribes’, they leave several questions unanswered: Who had recourse to ‘scribes’? For what specific purposes did delegated writing take place? Who were the ‘scribes’? What was their relationship with authors? In offering some answers, I draw on what we already know about delegated writing in nineteenth and early twentieth-century Europe, supplemented by original research on the writing of ordinary people in the First World War and in the age of mass migration. In identifying the main types of delegated writing – namely, the local notable, the family member or close colleague and the professional writer – I stress the power of the writer. Delegated writing was not a mechanical process of dictation, but a collaborative project, in which the ‘scribe’ deployed stock phrases, censored and gave advice. Calling on a ‘scribe’ inevitably implied a partial surrender of authorial autonomy. In conclusion, I outline ways in which the ‘scribe’ has made a comeback since the late twentieth century.