A Shakespearean actor whose sex life was known and discussed in Britain, America and France, Edmund Kean has inspired numerous writings, many biographies among them. But until now, no work has tackled the complicated and fascinating story of his literary appropriation. Dealing with the way a variety of canonical authors-including Byron, Coleridge, Keats, Dumas, Twain and Sartre-appropriated Kean through the centuries, this study traces a remarkable literary and performative legacy.