Romanticism and masculinity

About this book

"In this book Tim Fulford examines the male Romantics' versions of poetic authority in the context of their involvement in the political debates of Regency Britain. He argues that their response to Burke's gendered discourse about power effected radical changes in the definitions of masculinity and femininity. He portrays their influence on each other as a series of unstable struggles and alliances in which the formulation of an authoritative masculinity was a political as well as aesthetic issue. Fulford investigates the writers' portrayals of women and their collaborations with women authors and throws new light on their poetry, their journalism and their aesthetic theory by exploring their reactions to the sexual and political scandals of the Regency. Discussing Wollstonecraft, Godwin, Radcliffe, Malthus and Mary Robinson, he offers new perspectives on current critical debates concerning the Gothic, the sublime and gender."--BOOK JACKET.