Bloody romanticism: spectacular violence and the politics of representation, 1776-1832

This fascinating book is the first attempt to study the impact of spectacular violence on the writing of the Romantic period. The focus is on the response of writers to a series of catastrophically violent events: the revolutions in America and France, the Irish rebellion of 1798, the campaign against the slave trade, and the Gordon riots. Authors covered include Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Scott, Edgeworth, Byron, Fennimore Cooper, Equiano, Joel Barlow, Cobbett, George Walker and Helen Maria Williams.

List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Abbreviations Introduction: Romantic Agonies 'Beneath the bloody scourge laid bare the man': Slavery and Violence 'Disturbed imagination': The French Revolution 'The most distressful country': The Irish Rebellion of 1798 American 'savagery' Unruly People: The Spectacular Riot Notes Index