The Letters

The Letters
Author: Algernon Charles Swinburne
Publisher:
Total Pages: 252
Release: 1918
Genre:
ISBN:

The Life and Letters of William Sharp and "Fiona Macleod". Volume 1: 1855-1894

The Life and Letters of William Sharp and
Author: William F. Halloran
Publisher: Open Book Publishers
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2018-11-27
Genre: Literary Collections
ISBN: 1783745037

William Sharp (1855-1905) conducted one of the most audacious literary deceptions of his or any time. Sharp was a Scottish poet, novelist, biographer and editor who in 1893 began to write critically and commercially successful books under the name Fiona Macleod. This was far more than just a pseudonym: he corresponded as Macleod, enlisting his sister to provide the handwriting and address, and for more than a decade "Fiona Macleod" duped not only the general public but such literary luminaries as William Butler Yeats and, in America, E. C. Stedman. Sharp wrote "I feel another self within me now more than ever; it is as if I were possessed by a spirit who must speak out". This three-volume collection brings together Sharp’s own correspondence – a fascinating trove in its own right, by a Victorian man of letters who was on intimate terms with writers including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Walter Pater, and George Meredith – and the Fiona Macleod letters, which bring to life Sharp’s intriguing "second self". With an introduction and detailed notes by William F. Halloran, this richly rewarding collection offers a wonderful insight into the literary landscape of the time, while also investigating a strange and underappreciated phenomenon of late-nineteenth-century English literature. It is essential for scholars of the period, and it is an illuminating read for anyone interested in authorship and identity.

An Anthology of Pre-Raphaelite Writings

An Anthology of Pre-Raphaelite Writings
Author: Carolyn Hares-Stryker
Publisher: Burns & Oates
Total Pages: 412
Release: 1997
Genre: Art
ISBN:

Here, for the first time, is a panoramic overview of the most resonant work of the Pre-Raphaelite era in one handy volume. Combining well-known works with previously neglected materials, this ambitious anthology includes writing and art by such figures as the Rossettis, William Morris, John Ruskin, George Meredith, and Algernon Charles Swinburne. Organized chronologically, the book enables the reader to trace the most prominient artists and writers within each decade, revealing how their influence alternately increased and waned over time and further how their work was received by Victorian critics, by turn friendly, satirical and hostile. Carolyn Hares-Stryker's introduction addresses the principles and origins of the movement, describing the social and political evants that shaped the Pre-Raphaelites and the themes to which they returned again and again: social reform, religion and its role in contemporary life, the allure of the past, and the fragility of utopia.