Full Description
This book argues for the importance of blasphemy in shaping the literature and readership of Percy Bysshe Shelley and of the Romantic period more broadly. Not only are perceptions of blasphemy taken to be inextricable from politics, this book also argues for blasphemous 'irreverence' as both inspiring and necessitating new poetic creativity. The book reveals the intersection of blasphemy, censorship and literary property throughout the 'Long Eighteenth Century', attesting to the effect of this connection on Shelley's poetry more specifically. Paul Whickman notes how Shelley's perceived blasphemy determined the nature and readership of his published works through censorship and literary piracy. Simultaneously, Whickman crucially shows that aesthetics, content and the printed form of the physical text are interconnected and that Shelley's political and philosophical views manifest themselves in his writing both formally and thematically.
Contents
1. Introduction.- 2. Chapter 2: Blasphemy and Copyright in the Long Eighteenth Century, 1695-1823.- 3. Chapter 3: Blasphemy and the Shelley Canon: Queen Mab and Laon and Cythna.- 4. Chapter 4: Vulgar Anthropomorphisms: Blasphemy, Power and the Philosophy of Language.- 5. Chapter 5: The Promethean Conqueror, the Galilean Serpent and the Jacobin Jesus: Shelley's Interpretation(s) of Jesus Christ.- 6. Conclusion.
