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ksdambro's review against another edition
3.0
The dirty secrets behind the romantic curtain . . . an interesting counterpoint to the contemporaneous lives of Jane Austen's heroines.
n_nazir's review against another edition
3.0
Really well written book about a group of fascinating people who lived by their own rules. It's made me want to read poetry - and that's really a first for me...
kristinana's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this and devoured it pretty quickly. How can it not be a page-turner, when every time you turn around there's another illicit affair, illegitimate child, imprisonment, suicide, or untimely death? It makes you feel that your own life is boring... and that you're totally fine with that.
I should say I'm not a big reader of biographies, so my love for this book could be influenced by that. I already knew a lot of the story of Mary and Percy Shelley, but I've always wanted to read a longer account of it. The strength of this book, in my opinion, lies in the fact that it's a group biography. (Maybe I should try reading more group biographies in general, instead of individual biographies?) Hay does an impressive job of keeping many stories going at once and keeping a focus on the connections between people.
I really enjoyed that Hay had an argument (one that she never lost sight of, and perhaps occasionally emphasized a little too often), which is that it was the relationships between these various individuals that inspired creative production. In literary studies, feminist critics often lament the idea that only female authors are read biographically (that is, the sexist assumption is that women write from life because they lack the imagination to conjure something from thin air), and that many female authors are read in relation to their male writing counterparts (for instance, many sexist critics have assumed Percy rather than Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein). What I liked about Hay's argument, and found quite feminist about it, is the idea that the concept of solitary genius is an illusion, that writers are always either feeding off inspiration from life or other writers, and that even when writers need isolation in order to work, that in itself is a reaction to relationships. The book also points out the way that those who were not writers also influenced the writers and actually changed their lives; for example, Shelley and Byron might never have met if Mary Shelley's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, hadn't decided to basically throw herself at Byron (something she may have lived to regret, but which certainly influenced literary history).
The other major theme of the book, of course, is the way that women so often suffered from the way men used them to explore their own ideals. Sometimes this was because the women were manipulated or forced into situations, but at other times, the women were unaware that their actions would be perceived differently because they were women (see again: Claire Clairmont).
I enjoyed very much learning more about Claire Clairmont and the Hunt family, especially Leigh Hunt's sister-in-law, Bess Kent. I would have liked more about Keats, but maybe he was too much the upstanding young man I always assumed him to be and therefore there wasn't enough juicy gossip. This book did absolutely nothing to disabuse me of the sense I've always had that Percy Shelley was a complete asshole. Overall, this was a great read, very well-written and totally addictive. I wish Hay would write a similar book about Dickens and his circle; I would certainly read it!
I should say I'm not a big reader of biographies, so my love for this book could be influenced by that. I already knew a lot of the story of Mary and Percy Shelley, but I've always wanted to read a longer account of it. The strength of this book, in my opinion, lies in the fact that it's a group biography. (Maybe I should try reading more group biographies in general, instead of individual biographies?) Hay does an impressive job of keeping many stories going at once and keeping a focus on the connections between people.
I really enjoyed that Hay had an argument (one that she never lost sight of, and perhaps occasionally emphasized a little too often), which is that it was the relationships between these various individuals that inspired creative production. In literary studies, feminist critics often lament the idea that only female authors are read biographically (that is, the sexist assumption is that women write from life because they lack the imagination to conjure something from thin air), and that many female authors are read in relation to their male writing counterparts (for instance, many sexist critics have assumed Percy rather than Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein). What I liked about Hay's argument, and found quite feminist about it, is the idea that the concept of solitary genius is an illusion, that writers are always either feeding off inspiration from life or other writers, and that even when writers need isolation in order to work, that in itself is a reaction to relationships. The book also points out the way that those who were not writers also influenced the writers and actually changed their lives; for example, Shelley and Byron might never have met if Mary Shelley's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, hadn't decided to basically throw herself at Byron (something she may have lived to regret, but which certainly influenced literary history).
The other major theme of the book, of course, is the way that women so often suffered from the way men used them to explore their own ideals. Sometimes this was because the women were manipulated or forced into situations, but at other times, the women were unaware that their actions would be perceived differently because they were women (see again: Claire Clairmont).
I enjoyed very much learning more about Claire Clairmont and the Hunt family, especially Leigh Hunt's sister-in-law, Bess Kent. I would have liked more about Keats, but maybe he was too much the upstanding young man I always assumed him to be and therefore there wasn't enough juicy gossip. This book did absolutely nothing to disabuse me of the sense I've always had that Percy Shelley was a complete asshole. Overall, this was a great read, very well-written and totally addictive. I wish Hay would write a similar book about Dickens and his circle; I would certainly read it!
littlelarks's review against another edition
3.0
The coterie that was Hunt, the Shelleys, Keats, Byron, and so many other English Romantics is the very definition of #squadgoals, and while this book holds accounts of all their shenanigans - affairs, suicide, tragic death, drink, incest, and passion abound - I was on the whole a bit disappointed. Daisy Hay notes in her introduction that she wrote this alongside working on her thesis, and it reads like a thesis on whether or not solitude or companionship is a greater inspiration on the ~artistic heart~, and while an interesting argument, is not really what was marketed or what I was looking for. Still! A wonderful introduction into the messy world of the romantic poets.
lgiegerich's review against another edition
5.0
fascinating reading! i don't care much for what the Romantics actually produced, but fuck if they weren't interesting (and sometimes terrible) people.
occultmemorysystem's review against another edition
3.0
Oh, I don't know. I think she should have just written a biography of Shelley, because it seems like that's what she wanted to do. I liked her clear, no-frills style and her thesis is compelling and interesting to consider, but I don't like her treatment of Keats at all and that is the most important thing to me. I feel like she decided to treat him like a footnote to Shelley's glorious existence because Keats didn't adhere so neatly to her thesis. (I could be far more expansive on this subject, but not in a Goodreads review.)