Repossessing the Romantic Past

Work on British Romanticism is often characterised as much by its conscious difference from preceding positions as it is by its approach to or choice of material. As a result, writing neglected or marginalised in one account will be restored to prominence in another, as we reconstruct the past as a history of the present. This collection of essays takes as its starting point the wide-ranging work of Marilyn Butler on Romantic literature, and includes contributions by some of the most prominent scholars of Romanticism working today. The essays offer interesting perspectives on Maria Edgeworth, Coleridge, Austen, Scott and others, showing that the openness of modern critical perceptions matches and reflects the diversity of the literature and culture of the Romantic period itself.

Introduction Paul Hamilton; Part I. Dissent and Opposition: 1. 'Severe contentions of friendship': Barbauld, conversation, and dispute Jon Mee; 2. Hazlitt's visionary London Kevin Gilmartin; 3. Shelley's republics Michael Rossington; 4. Memoirs of a dutiful niece: Lucy Aikin and literary reputation Anne Janowitz; 5. Holding Proteus: William Godwin in his letters Pamela Clemit; Part II. Reopening the Case of Edgeworth: 6. Edgeworth and Scott: the literature of reterritorialization James Chandler; 7. Maria Edgeworth and 'the light of nature': artifice, autonomy and anti-sectarianism in Practical Education (1798) Susan Manly; Part III. Different Directions: 8. Coleridge's stamina Paul Hamilton; 9. Elizabeth Hamilton's Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah and Romantic Orientalism Nigel Leask; 10. Jane Austen and the professional wife Janet Todd; 11. High instincts and real presences: two Romantic responses to the death of beauty Jerome McGann; Coda: Bibliography of the writings of Marilyn Butler Heather Glen.