Percy Byshhe Shelley...

[fajrdrako]

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born today, 215 years ago. Happy birthday to one of my favourite people!

I was reading an article about him today, a review of a new book about him by Janet Todd called Death and the Maidens, which, it appears, blames Shelley for the suicides of his acquaintances and the deaths of several of his children. Shelley's reputation has been having ups and downs since he was eighteen years old and was expelled from Oxford for espousing atheism; I'm sure his reputation will survive another book, but I find it annoying to hear the book described as 'frank' when it is obviously simply hostile. For instance: blaming him for Fanny Wollestonecraft's suicide, and then for not paying for her funeral, seems absurd to me - he hadn't seen her in several years, had never had any responsibility for her, and barely had enough money for himself and his immediate family to be able to eat. I wonder if she blames him for the suicide of Castlereagh, because Shelley said nasty things about him.

No need to return to the hagiographic view of Shelley that some have held, that he was a cross between a saint and an angel. That's just as bad. He was a polyamorous poet who paid heavily in his own lifetime for his convictions; whose viewpoint was both caring and eloquent. That's good enough for me.

Comments

[silverwhistle.livejournal.com]

But you still think that pursuing personal gratification is preferable?

I've written to you off-LJ. I hope our friendship is salvageable, because we have so many fandoms in common. I could understand saying you liked the works but not the people (that's true of so many writers, who were unbearable as human beings), but this…

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I have loved Shelley since I was a teen, warts and all, I'm hardly likely to stop now! I understand that you disapprove of him.