30 Great Myths About The Romantics

`A triumph of individual scholarship over contentious critical opinion, Wu's fluid, readable prose is accessible to all, and his extensive and subtle insights are a joy to read'. Jane Moore, Cardiff University

Were the Romantics a bunch of drug-addled atheists who believed in free love? Was Blake a madman? And did Wordsworth really sleep with his sister? Few literary periods are less understood yet include more mythologized figures than the British Romantics -- and most of the myths swirling about them are far from romantic. 30 Great Myths About the Romantics features a collection of thought-provoking essays that address a range of widely held beliefs about key figures of the Romantic era -- and about Romanticism itself.

Author Duncan Wu's goal is twofold: to correct some of the biases and misconceptions about the Romantics that have crept into modern critical discussion and to celebrate the mythic concepts, characters, and objects that have passed down from the Romantics into contemporary culture (from Blake's `Jerusalem' and the person from Porlock to Shelley's elusive heart). Brimming with the foibles, follies, and eccentricities of these great writers 30 Great Myths About the Romantics brings clarity to what we know -- or think we know -- about one of the most important periods in literary history.

Duncan Wu is Professor of English at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He is the editor of Romanticism: An Anthology, 4th edition (Wiley Blackwell, 2012), and the author of books about Romanticism, Wordsworth, and Hazlitt.