Percy Shelley in Context

The indispensable guide to Shelley's life and career, setting his work in contexts from ancient literature to contemporary culture.

Ross Wilson (Edited by)

9781009223706, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 April 2025

393 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.746 kg

Percy Shelley was a writer in the broadest sense – poet, pamphleteer, philosopher, translator, and correspondent – and one of the most eccentric, fascinating figures of his age. Yet he is emphatically of our age too, continuing to influence contemporary writers, to be referenced in popular culture, and to inspire social and political movements. Bringing together a wide range of contributors from different critical perspectives, this vivid and accessible volume sets Shelley's work in its many contexts – from ancient literature to contemporary poetry, from his travels around Britain and Europe to his global reception, and from his rivalries with his poetic peers to his often-strained relations with his family. Despite his short life, Shelley emerges as a vital literary presence.

I. Life and Death: 1. Family and education Nora Crook
2. Women and children Daisy Hay
3. Great Britain and Ireland Timothy Heimlich
4. Switzerland Patrick Vincent
5. Italy Valentina Varinelli
6. Byron and Shelley Jacques Khalip
Part II. Intellectual, Cultural, and Political Contexts: 7. Ancient philosophy Amanda Blake Davis
8. Ancient poetry Tom Phillips
9. English literature to 1792 Ross Wilson
10. European literature, Dante to Rousseau Diego Saglia
11. The visual and plastic arts Sophie Thomas
12. The radical press Philip Connell
13. Shelley and the lake poets: '-have I not kept the vow?' Eric Lindstrom
14. Mary Shelley Anna Mercer
15. Thomas Love Peacock Joseph Turner
16. The cold worlds of Byron and Shelley Merrilees Roberts
17. Keats and Shelley Anahid Nersessian
18. Revolution and reform Brian McGrath
19. Political economy Paul Stephens
20. Empire Nahoko Miyamoto Alvey
21. Shelley's sexless sexuality Kate Singer
22. The British empiricists Chris Townsend
23. The sciences Andrew Lacey
24. Religion Colin Jager
Part III. Writings: 25. Publishing, publishers, and editions Michael Rossington
26. Correspondence Will Bowers
27. Shelley's translations Mathelinda Nabugodi
28. The gothic Jerrold E. Hogle
29. Lyric Alexander Freer
30. Drama Julie Camarda
31. Epic Yasmin Solomonescu
32. Shelley's laughter Matthew Ward
Part IV. Afterlives: 33. Contemporary reviews Kim Wheatley
34. Biographers, memoirists, reminiscers 1823–1878 Bysshe Inigo Coffey
35. Global reception and translation Omar F. Miranda
36. 'For the many, not the few': Shelley and politics from Chartism to socialism Casie LeGette
37. The Victorians' Shelley Tom Mole
38. Twentieth-century poetry Madeleine Callaghan
39. Lyric trouble: Shelley and contemporary poetry John Wilkinson
40. Shelley and popular culture Suzanne L. Barnett
41. Shelley: palinode/divagation Maureen N. McLane.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]