Paradise Lost and the Romantic Reader [Hardcover]

Lucy Newlyn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 11, 1993 | ISBN-10: 0198112777 | ISBN-13: 978-0198112778

Was Milton on the side of the angels or the devils? Was he republican or anti-republican, feminist or misogynist? Did he value innocence or experience? This book shows how the Romantic reader responded, in complex and often paradoxical ways, to multiple ambiguities inherent in the very language of Paradise Lost. It examines ambivalent allusions to Satan and God, in responses to the French Revolution (Coleridge and Wordsworth), in studies of the origin of evil (Godwin, Blake, the Shelleys), in accounts of the creative imagination, and it looks at how Eve pervades representations of female sexuality (Byron and Keats). The book culminates in a chapter on Blake's Milton and also considers such prose writers as De Quincey, Lamb, Wollstonecraft, and Hazlitt.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A demanding, ambitious, and surprisingly Blakean thesis....Newlyn's study significantly revalues our understanding of the Romantics' complex interactions with Milton, and it proves itself essential reading for students of Romanticism, Renaissance tradition, and the dynamics of poetic relations."--Keats Shelley Journal

"Ambitious and impressive new book....Newlyn consistently offers original and often fascinating readings of romantic texts."--Studies in Romanticism

"There have been numerous books and articles on the subject, but Lucy Newlyn's is certainly the best....Newlyn's principl argument is simple, beautifully articulated, amply supported through close analysis and wholly convincing. The structure is as elegant as the argument."--Review of English studies

About the Author

Lucy Newlyn is at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (February 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198112777
• ISBN-13: 978-0198112778
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,368,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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