Bloody Romanticism: Spectacular Violence and the Politics of Representation, 1776-1832 (Palgrave Studies in the Enlightenment, Romanticism and the Cultures of Print)

This book is the first comprehensive study of the subject of spectacular violence in British Romantic literature and print culture. It looks at the impact and influence of a series of catastrophically violent events: the transatlantic slave trade; the American war of Independence and the 'Indian' problem; the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars; the Irish rebellion of 1798; and a series of riots and 'disturbances' stretching from the Gordon riots of 1780 to the Reform Bill riots of 1831. Bloody Romanticism Is The First Attempt To Study The Impact Of Spectacular Violence On The Literature And Culture Of The Romantic Period. In The Late Eighteenth Century, The British Reading Public Experienced A Series Of Catastrophically Violent Events: The Revolutions In America And France, The Irish Rebellion Of 1798, The Campaign Against The Slave Trade, And The Gordon Riots. In Order To Raise Public Awareness About The Violent Reality Of These Conflicts, Writers And Artists Made The Graphic Representation Of Atrocity A Powerful Tool Of Representation. By Drawing On A Wide Range Of Primary Sources, Including Fiction, Poetry, Drama, Journalism, Pamphlets, Sermons, Slave Autobiography, Captivity Narratives, Satire And The Epic, Ian Haywood Shows That The Romantic Imagination Was Profoundly Marked By This Disturbing And Controversial Theme. Authors Covered Include Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Scott, Edgeworth, Byron, Fennimore Cooper, Equiano, Barlow, Cobbett, George Walker And Helen Maria Williams. Introduction : Romantic Agonies -- 'beneath The Bloody Scourge Laid Bare The Man' : Slavery And Violence -- 'disturbed Imagination' : The French Revolution -- The Most Distressful Country' : The Irish Rebellion Of 1798 -- American 'savagery' -- Unruly People : The Spectacular Riot. Ian Haywood. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 251-264) And Index. Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 11 List of Abbreviations......Page 12 Introduction: Romantic Agonies......Page 14 1 ‘Beneath the Bloody Scourge Laid Bare the Man’: Slavery and Violence......Page 24 2 ‘Disturbed Imagination’: The French Revolution......Page 73 3 ‘The Most Distressful Country’: The Irish Rebellion of 1798......Page 116 4 American ‘Savagery’......Page 147 5 Unruly People: The Spectacular Riot......Page 194 Notes......Page 236 Bibliography......Page 264 Index......Page 278 "[This book] refreshingly resituates Romanticism in the global theater of revolution, warfare and slavery from which it originally emerged. Through a series of compelling readings of key literary texts, it offers the reader a view of Romanticism in which uprisings, executions and massacres displace waterfalls, cliffsides and daffodils as the crucial reference points of the imaginary landscape at the end of the eighteenth century."--Professor Saree Makdisi, from dust jacket This book studies the impact of violence on the writing of the Romantic period. The focus is on the response of writers to a series of violent events including the revolutions in America and France and the Irish rebellion of 1798. Authors covered include Coleridge, Wordsworth, Scott, Byron, Fennimore Cooper, Equiano, and Helen Maria Williams.