SOURCE: Hibbard, G. R. “The Miseries of Authorship and Pierce Penilesse.” In Thomas Nashe: A Critical Introduction, pp. 49-84. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962.

In this essay, Hibbard details what is known and what can be surmised of Nashe's efforts to make a living as a writer, suggesting that in Pierce Penilesse the author strove to capitalize on his status as a starving artist and not to produce a coherent satire. The critic concludes that the public response to Pierce Penilesse steered Nashe toward the kind of occasional writing that would characterize his career.

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The Almond was probably published about the end of January 1590, and the Anatomy of Absurdity followed it in the February or March of the same year. Between this date and the appearance of Pierce Penilesse in September 1592, only one piece of work, and that a very minor one, from Nashe's pen made its way into...