diff --git a/doc/config.rst b/doc/config.rst
index d541c6077..399cc3b84 100644
--- a/doc/config.rst
+++ b/doc/config.rst
@@ -442,8 +442,12 @@ These options influence LaTeX output.
      here.)
    * *targetname*: file name of the LaTeX file in the output directory.
    * *title*: LaTeX document title.  Can be empty to use the title of the
-     *startdoc*.
-   * *author*: Author for the LaTeX document.
+     *startdoc*.  This is inserted as LaTeX markup, so special characters like a
+     backslash or ampersand must be represented by the proper LaTeX commands if
+     they are to be inserted literally.
+   * *author*: Author for the LaTeX document.  The same LaTeX markup caveat as
+     for *title* applies.  Use ``\and`` to separate multiple authors, as in:
+     ``'John \and Sarah'``.
    * *documentclass*: Must be one of ``'manual'`` or ``'howto'``.  Only "manual"
      documents will get appendices.  Also, howtos will have a simpler title
      page.
diff --git a/sphinx/latexwriter.py b/sphinx/latexwriter.py
index 824549f0b..8a8299b72 100644
--- a/sphinx/latexwriter.py
+++ b/sphinx/latexwriter.py
@@ -337,7 +337,9 @@ class LaTeXTranslator(nodes.NodeVisitor):
             if len(node.children) != 1 and not isinstance(node.children[0], nodes.Text):
                 self.builder.warn('document title is not a single Text node')
             if not self.elements['title']:
-                self.elements['title'] = node.astext()
+                # text needs to be escaped since it is inserted into
+                # the output literally
+                self.elements['title'] = node.astext().translate(tex_escape_map)
             self.this_is_the_title = 0
             raise nodes.SkipNode
         elif isinstance(node.parent, nodes.section):