The Shelleys and the Brownings: Textual Re-Imaginings and the Question of Influence(9 English Association Monographs: English at the Interface)

This book is about the intertextual relationships between the works of the Shelleys and the Brownings. While a lot of research has been done on the relationship between Percy Bysshe Shelley and Robert Browning, virtually nothing has been said about the links between Mary Shelley and Robert Browning, and very little on the connections between the Shelleys and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Rieko Suzuki seeks to address this blind spot by focusing on three areas in particular: firstly, the way that Browning’s later poems reflect back on and re-engage with Shelley’s work; secondly, Mary Shelley’s influence on Browning’s early poems; and thirdly, Shelley’s presence in and influence on Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s writing. In mapping out the various ways in which texts relate to other texts, the book also identifies a number of important thematic threads that run throughout the work of all four writers. These include theories of history and historical consciousness, providing a further dimension to the question of ‘influence’. They also include ideas about exile, gender, liberal politics and cultural heritage, central to almost all the texts discussed here, as the Shelleys and the Brownings, in different ways and in varying contexts, tried to negotiate the possibility of a more tolerant and resilient social, political and cultural environment.

Table of Contents:
Introduction1. Frankenstein and Paracelsus2. Valperga and Sordello3. The Shelleys and Browning on Art, Aesthetics and Poetics4. The Cenci and The Ring and the Book5. The Triumph of Life and Fifine at the Fair6. Elizabeth Barrett and ShelleyCoda

About the Author :
Rieko Suzuki is Associate Professor at Waseda University.

Review :
'Rieko Suzuki has produced an intellectually engaging study which enhances our understanding of the literary connections and textual dialogues between the writings of the Shelleys and the Brownings, duly revitalizing our ideas of influence and intellectual transfer.' - Maria Schoina, Associate Professor of English Literature, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ‘Rieko Suzuki's stimulating sequence of paired readings allow us to reconsider all four writers from perspectives both old and new.’ Jane Stabler, Review 19 ‘I would like to celebrate the fact that a book reconsidering the question of influence from Romanticism to Victorianism underscored by the notion of “coterie” should appear in the same year as the bicentenary of Percy Shelley's death.’ Naomichi Tashiro, Essays in English Romanticism 'There is a tremendous amount of learning contained here, and most readers will find out something new from every single essay... Every page of this wide-ranging and deeply researched book uncovers an interesting connection or makes a telling point.' Brian Goldberg, European Romantic Review