1,359 research outputs found
"Airy Children of Our Brain": Emotion, Science and the Legacy of Eighteenth-Century Philosophy in the Shelley Circle, 1812-1821
No full textThis thesis examines the physical effects of human emotion and the mind through selected texts written by the Shelley circle, including P. B. Shelley, Mary Shelley, and Lord Byron. Emotion is a significant variable that dominates human existence. For this reason, the concept of emotion continues to intrigue numerous scientists working today in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, biology, and even robotics. With the rise of neuroscientific or cognitive approaches, the materiality of the mind has also been increasingly discussed in literary studies. Critics, including Alan Richardson, Noel Jackson, and Richard Holmes, revisit the mind and English Romanticism drawing on various scientific perspectives. Other critics, such as Adela Pinch, Thomas Pfau, and Richard C. Sha, have also reflected on emotional studies and Romanticism. Finding affinities with this kind of approach, recently defined as ‘cognitive historicism’, my thesis explores the legacy of eighteenth-century mental philosophy and science in the Shelley circle, 1812-1821. I argue that the Shelley circle’s scientific understanding of the mind and emotion is influenced by the materialism, empiricism, and aesthetics prevalent in the eighteenth century, which come into their own in the Romantic period to prefigure our current scientific understanding of emotion.
Chapter One surveys the Shelley circle’s preoccupation with emotion and science and how this is manifest, to varying degrees, in a wide range of critical responses to Frankenstein and writings of other members of the group during this period. During the course of this critical survey I develop the concept of the ‘materiality of emotion’, which is used in subsequent chapters to re-examine the Shelley circle’s scientific philosophy and how it is represented in literary texts written by the group. Chapter Two argues that Shelley develops his views of the mind through his atheistic and materialist reasoning. This materialist thinking of the mind in Queen Mab exerts a seminal influence on how the Shelley circle thought about the workings of human emotion. Chapter Three focuses on Mary Shelley and contemporary eighteenth- and nineteenth-century scientific debates to suggest that the representation of the mechanism of the body in Frankenstein points to the intricate relations between the mechanisms of the mind and emotion and offers a means to heal the schism between French materialism and vitalism. Chapter Four investigates the depiction of emotional effects on the mind in Byron’s Manfred and Shelley’s Alastor. Both poets draw on scientific reasoning and imagination to come to terms with grief, the failure of love, and the loss of ideals. Chapter Five claims that Shelley’s Frankenstein meditates on the effects of physiological elements of the beautiful and the ugly, as well as emotional responses to the sublime science. My final chapter draws on cultural history and gender theory to interpret Byron’s Don Juan (Canto One) and Shelley’s Epipsychidion in an attempt to reaffirm the beautiful and the sublime in their materialist concept of love or sexuality
Mary Shelley, Life of William Godwin
No full textMary Shelley's Life of William Godwin is an incomplete biography of a major author of the Enlightenment by his daughter, a major Romantic author. The working title 'Life of William Godwin' was affixed some time ago by the Bodleian to a sheaf of papers dated 1835 to 1839, the majority in the handwriting of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, forming an 'unfinished' and 'abortive' biographical memoir of her late father. In July 1836, Godwin's widow Mary Jane signed a contract with publisher Henry Colburn [Bodleian, MS. Eng. lett. c. 461, fol. 153] for a two-volume 'Memoirs and Correspondence of the late William Godwin', to be written by Mary Shelley, who referred to it while it was in preparation as 'my Father's Life'. At this period, she was 'Mrs Shelley', widow of the poet Shelley, mother of the heir to a baronetcy and daughter of a famous but questionable marriage - that of Mary Wollstonecraft, author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, to William Godwin, author of An Enquiry concerning Political Justice. "Mary Shelley, Life of William Godwin" was originally published as a part of Sydney Electronic Text and Image Service (SETIS), Faculty Projects collection (https://digital.library.sydney.edu.au/pages/setis
Adaptation, Authorship and Contemporary Women Filmmakers
No full textA lively discussion of costume dramas to women's films, Shelley Cobb investigates the practice of adaptation in contemporary films made by women. The figure of the woman author comes to the fore as a key site for the representation of women's agency and the authority of the woman filmmaker
Shelley Stokes-Hammond interview, 15 September 2017
No full textShelley Stokes-Hammond is the oldest daughter of Louis Stokes. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Goucher College. She is a historic preservationist, author and public relations manager at Howard University. This 2017 interview was collected as part of a yearlong, community-wide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Carl Stokes\u27 election as mayor of Cleveland
Shelley Stokes-Hammond interview, 15 September 2017
No full textShelley Stokes-Hammond is the oldest daughter of Louis Stokes. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Goucher College. She is a historic preservationist, author and public relations manager at Howard University. This 2017 interview was collected as part of a yearlong, community-wide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Carl Stokes\u27 election as mayor of Cleveland
A more comprehensive and commanding delineation: Mary Shelley's narrative strategy in Frankenstein
No full textThis thesis argues that the first edition of Frankenstein challenges conventional reading by employing what Simpson in Irony and Authority in Romantic Poetry calls Romantic irony, where the absence of a stable 'metacomment' precludes an authoritative reading. The novel hints at such readings but prevents them. The insights offered by Tropp's Mary Shelley's Monster, Baldick's In Frankenstein's Shadow, Poovey's The Proper Lady and the woman writer and Swingle's, 'Frankenstein's Monster and its Relatives: Problems of Knowledge in English Romanticism' are considered, but none recognises the full implications of the instability deriving from multiple first- person narratives. Clemit's The Godwinian Navel acknowledges the novel's indeterminacy, but reads a specific ideological purpose in it. Paradise Last provides a language to describe the relationship between the monster and Frankenstein, but proves too unstable to fix identity or establish moral value. Similarly, Necessity ultimately fails to provide a stable explanation in terms of cause and effect. The status of nature shifts between foreground and background, never allowing final definition. These uncertainties destabilise knowledge which is compromised by its provisional nature: no authoritative reading is possible, yet the novel has narrative coherence. The reader is encouraged to try to develop a reading the structure prevents. The radical nature of the first edition is highlighted by comparison with the 1831 edition, which removes much of the ambivalence and gives the novel a clearer morality. The novel challenges conventional methods of deriving authority by disturbing the reader's orthodox orientation in the world around him' (Simpson) in order to afford 'a point of view to the imagination for the delineation of human passions more comprehensive and commanding than any which the ordinary relations of existing events can yield' (Mary Shelley)
Shelley's influence on the Chartist poets, with particular emphasis on Ernest Charles Jones and Thomas Cooper
No full textThis study examines the Chartists' interest in Shelley's poetry and
accounts for it, but it takes the second point first:. Three factors
are discerned to be of prime importance in giving rise to Shelley's
reputation amongst radical Chartists. First, the Chartists' estimation
of Shelley's political philosophy as more intrinsically radical than
the mainstream of British radicalism, as exemplified by Godwin.
Second, Shelley's stands on the questions of religion, inheritance
and political reform proved to be appealing to the Chartists. Third,
and most important of all, to the Chartists Shelley was a political
poet - and poetry they saw as a principal means of moving the people.
The political arguments that permeated Shelley's poetry and the
mingling he managed between poetry and politics corresponded to the
Chartists' political thought and their advocacy of poetry as the most
apposite literary medium to serve and enhance political change.
Accordingly, Shelley was awarded a unique position in the Owenites'
and thartists' publications. He was chiefly acknowledged as a political
poet whose compositions foster the peoples' radical inclinations and
lend force to their efforts to initiate political reform. The Chartist
poet and leader, Ernest Charles Jones, read, published and quoted
Shelley on many occasions. His published and unpublished works testify
that Shelley made a strong impact on his political arguments and exerted
direct influence on much of his poetry. The other thartist poet whom
Shelley seems to have influenced is Thomas Cooper. As a great admirer
of Shelley, Cooper also read Shelley's works, published extracts from
them in his journals and delivered many lectures on Shelley's poetry
and thought. The affinities between Cooper's and Shelley's political
arguments suggest that Shelley might well have exercised a considerable
influence on Cooper's political reasoning. Moreover, the comparison
between Cooper's epic poem, The Purgatory of Suicides and Shelley's
Queen Mab leaves little room for doubt that Shelley has influenced
Cooper in this particular poem.
The main contribution to Shelley studies lies in the evidence
provided of Shelley's popularity amongst radical Chartists and the
charting of his political and literary influence on two Chartist poets:
Ernest Charles Jones and Thomas Cooper. This study should serve as an
important part of a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of Shelley's
influence on the Chrtist Movement as a whole
"Her cradle, and his sepulchre": The Shelleys' Anxiety of Creation and Identity
No full textBoth Percy Shelley and Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley asserted their belief in the nature of literature to transcend conscious thoughts and to operate as a dream state, manifesting unconscious fears and desires. By analyzing two primary works by the Shelleys as dreams, and applying Freud's theories of dream interpretation and the unconscious, this thesis reveals how these works demonstrate a shared unconscious anxiety about the transformative nature of creation and its power to establish or destroy identity. In Alastor, Percy Shelley manifests his anxiety about his relationship with artistic creation through his treatment of gender, most especially in his description of and interaction with the veiled maid. Alastor demonstrates Shelley's conflicting desire both to unite with the powerful creative force and to reject it in order to maintain his own socially constructed role as male Romantic Poet. In Frankenstein, Mary Shelley both responds to and expands upon the thematic focus established by Percy Shelley in Alastor. Focusing on the power of physical creation to redefine a woman's identity, Mary Shelley manifests her anxiety about the possibility of integrating the dueling aspects of her own identity, mother and author, into one cohesive identity. Percy examines how his desire for pure poetic expression affects his role within a masculine construct, while Mary interrogates her own beliefs about integrating the role of mother and author into one cohesive identity in a world that privileges and requires motherhood. Their creation of marginalized, exiled characters in the figures of the wandering poet, who chooses to shun society, and the monster, who is shunned by a society he deeply desires to be a part of, indicates their own fear of the consequences of societal rejection
Frankenstein and Shelley: the author and her work
No full textWhen writing Frankenstein as a young, impressionable woman, Mary Shelley was heavily influenced by the works and legacies created by both her parents, William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft. Godwin and Wollstonecraft made their names in the world with their revolutionary ideas written out in books spread in Europe; with large shoes to fill as their daughter, Mary Shelley knew that she needed her own revolutionary work to move the world like they did. Because of this connection of legacy with her parents, many themes and lessons concerning her parents are featured in her novel, Frankenstein. The absence of her mother, who died ten days after giving birth to Mary Shelley, created the absence of a father in Victor Frankenstein for his creature. Mary as a child was tutored by her father in many subjects that would not normally be taught to females in this time period. That learning allowed her to include the subjects of science, humanities, and literature in her novel. In this paper, I will explain how knowing about Mary Shelley’s connection with her parents shaped her life and learning, by extension shaping her novel, Frankenstein. I will be looking at primary source materials by William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Mary Shelley to note the connections between the texts, as well as secondary sources concerning Mary Shelley and her influences when it came to writing Frankenstein. I also will be looking at biographies of Mary Shelley’s life in order to relate her story to Frankenstein’s and the creature’s stories. The parallel between the author and the characters is essential in understanding the importance of Shelley’s parents in shaping her not only as an author, but as a woman in the Romantic Era. (Author abstract)Gambon, C. (2014). Frankenstein and Shelley: the author and her work. Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.ed
All that faith creates, or love desires: Shelley’s poetic vision of being
No full textThis thesis explores the nature of creativity in the poetic vision of Percy Bysshe Shelley. "Poetic vision" is chosen for its complex connotations, which include creative imaginings, dreams and intimations of futurity. I examine questions that Shelley raises concerning perception, existence and the fabric of reality. To develop a conceptual framework that has an ontological basis, I draw on the theories of two twentieth-century non-dualist thinkers: David Bohm, who combines science, philosophy and art, and the existential thought of Martin Heidegger. I also investigate ways in which literary expression and life become interwoven and suggest that this reciprocity is explicable through a dynamically creative vision of existence. In Chapter One Shelley's reflections on the creative capacity of poetic visions to influence states of being, and his holistic apprehension of existence in On Life, provide the thesis with a conceptual paradigm which is in contradistinction to the Cartesian schism between mind and matter. A Defence of Poetry is contrasted with Peacock's The Four Ages of Poetry to show that the contention between the two writers' visions springs from questions relating to being. Shelley's declaration that the poetic impulse is central to life is examined in the light of Heidegger’s notion of the poetic as disclosing being and Bohm's quantum concepts of creativity. In Chapter Two Alastor is interpreted as a poem which raises questions about existence and I provide a counter-approach to critical positions of scepticism. Heidegger's concepts of "Being- in-the-world" and "Being-towards-death" provide the basis for an existential analysis of die Poet’s impassioned quest. A comparison between the Poet's dream of his feminine counterpart and Shelley's own vision of his ideal beloved reveals connections between artistic vision and human experience. In Chapter Three on Laon and Cythna. poetic vision is shown to operate from a metaphysical basis of thought, passion, and the human will to enact a radical transformation in consciousness. The poem's investigation of freedom is linked to Heidegger's concept of being absorbed in the "they." Chapter Four continues my extended reading of Laon and Cythna. Shelley's notion of creativity collapses the demarcations between imaginative vision and the physical world. Here his view of reality is contrasted with the psychological investigations of Jean Piaget. The poem’s vision of human empowerment is compared with Peacock's fatahsm in Ahrimanes. Chapter Five investigates challenges to Shelley's optimism. Julian and Maddalo is the major poem interpreted in a chapter v*ere the keynote is the contention between theories about the nature of reality and their validity to human life. Shelley's anxiety about communicating visions of despair is analyzed with regard to the Maniac's tragic predicament. Chapter Six interprets Prometheus Unbound as a dramatic engagement with the spiritual, imaginative, emotional and sensuous planes of being. Existence is seen to be poised on a mobile nexus of thought and emotions. Asia has a dynamic role and, through consideration of her journey with Panthea to Demogorgon, I examine Shelley's complex negotiation between free will and determinism. Spinoza's monism is discussed in relation to "Love's Philosophy. In Chapter Seven on Hellas, "Thought", "Passion", "Will", "Reason" and the "Imagination” are shown to have creative powers which determine futurity. Questions about the structure of reality are explored in the drama's dynamic interchange between the magician-like Ahasuerus and the Turkish tyrant Mahmud. Dreams are given significance as avenues of perception to realms beyond conscious experience and in relation to unfolding the future. Finally, in Chapter Eight Shelley's ideas about poetic creativity are explored through his poems to 'Jane Williams. Whilst composing these lyrics Shelley used the figure of Rousseau, in the Triumph of Life, to suggest a reciprocity between art and life. I examine the similarities between Rousseau's fictional creation of Julie in La Nouvelle Hélose and his subsequent love for Sophie d'Houdetot. Shelley's lyrics to Jane Williams communicate desire at different levels of conscious awareness, from trance-like mesmerism to overt invitation
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