Spain in British Romanticism, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018
1800-1840
Nineteenth-Century Major Lives and Letters Series

This collection of thirteen specially commissioned essays by international scholars takes a fresh look at the profound impact of the Peninsular War on Romantic British literature and culture. The expertly authored chapters explore the valorization of Spain by nineteenth-century poets such as Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, Robert Southey, S.T. Coleridge, the Shelleys, and Felicia Hemans in contrast to the Enlightenment-era view of Spain as a backwards nation in decline. Topics discussed include the vision of Spain in Gothic fiction, Spanish experiences of exile as exemplified by the conflict between Valentin de Llanos and Joseph Blanco White, and British women writers' approach to peninsular fiction. 

1 Introduction: Spain and British Romanticism.- 2 The Matter of Spain in Romantic Britain.- 3 Robert Southey and the Peninsular campaign.- 4 Southey, Spain, and Romantic Apostasy.- 5 Wordsworth’s Spain, 1808-1811.-6 Coleridge and Spanish Literature.- 7 Spain and Byron’s The Age of Bronze.- 8 Spain and Cosmopolitan Liberalism.- 9 The Shelleys and Spain.- 10 Spain in Gothic Fiction.- 11 British Women Writers of Peninsular Fiction.- 12 The Spanish “Revolution” in Print and Image.- 13 Alexander Dallas’s Reimagining Spain.- 14 Valentín de Llanos and Spanish Writing in Exile.  

Diego Saglia is Professor of English Literature at the University of Parma, Italy.