Strange truths in undiscovered lands : Shelley's poetic development and Romantic geography / Nahoko Miyamoto Alvey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Alvey, Nahoko Miyamoto, 1961-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822--Criticism and interpretation.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822.

Geography in literature.

Geopolitics in literature.

Romanticism--Great Britain.

Romanticism.

Criticism and interpretation.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

xiii, 264 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Toronto ; Buffalo : University of Toronto Press, [2009]

Summary:

The great Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley had a complicated relationship with the British Empire and the culture of colonialism. Considered politically radical and scandalous in Britain, Shelley lived in self-imposed exile and set much of his writing in foreign places. In Strange Truths in Undiscovered Lands Nahoko Miyamoto Alvey examines the ways in which Shelley developed a 'Romantic geography' to provide visionary alternatives to an earth devastated by a new type of European colonialism and global expansion. Intertextually rich, Alvey's work establishes the context in which poems by Shelley and other Romantics were written by presenting relevant histories, travel texts, scientific writings, and archival material, and are all complemented by postcolonial analysis. Unique in its emphasis on the optimistic and positive aspects of Shelley's poetical works, Strange Truths in Undiscovered Lands offers a different perspective on Romantic Orientalism, and a new look at how the poet imagined the relationship between the Self and the Other. Thorough and original, this book will be of interest to Romanticists, postcolonialists, and anyone interested in alternative responses to acts of colonialism and empire.

Contents:

1 Queen Mab: The Female Dreamers and a Pathless Wilderness 19

2 'Alastor': A Solitary Quester and a New Eastern Geography 51

3 'Mont Blanc': The Questioning Traveller and a Visionary Geography of Chamonix 83

4 Prometheus Unbound: The Eastern and Western Lovers on the Highest Mountain 109

5 'The Witch of Atlas': The Hybrid Explorer and Shelley's Joyous Challenge 145.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [219]-249) and index.

ISBN:

9780802039569

0802039561

OCLC:

262717825