Laon and Cythna : or, The revolution of the golden city / Percy Bysshe Shelley ; edited by Anahid Nersessian.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822, author.

Contributor:

Nersessian, Anahid, 1982- editor.

Series:

Broadview editions

Standardized Title:

Revolt of Islam

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Shelley, Percy Bysshe.

Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

298 pages ; 23 cm.

Other Title:

Revolution of the golden city

Place of Publication:

Peterborough, Ontario : Broadview Press, [2016]

Summary:

"Percy Bysshe Shelley's narrative poem Laon and Cythna is about a failed revolution--or is it? Laon and Cythna was quickly suppressed by Shelley's publisher, who feared he would be prosecuted for its revolutionary ideas and its depiction of incest between the two title characters, a brother and sister (it was later republished in its revised form as The Revolt of Islam). The siblings lead a rebellion against the Sultan of a city called Islam, which is liberated briefly before being recaptured by the Sultan's armies. Laon and Cythna are burnt at the stake, or seem to be: just before they die, they are spirited away to a mysterious island, where the poet who recounts their story meets and talks to them. The poem asks what it means for a political movement to succeed, or to fail, and presents Shelley's revolutionary ideas in a suspenseful narrative. Historical appendices provide context for Shelley's political and philosophical works, the poem's feminist ideals, and the treatment of Asia and the Middle East in Romantic literature."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Laon and Cythna; or, The Revolution of the Golden City 39.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781554811946

1554811945

OCLC:

939203712