Literature Network » Percy Bysshe Shelley

Withering in the Shadow of Genius

Content courtesy of

From: The Washington Post
Date: 20071106
Author:Rachel Hartigan Shea

DEATH AND THE MAIDENS

Fanny Wollstonecraft and the Shelley Circle

By Janet Todd

Counterpoint. 297 pp. $26

How many deaths can be laid at Percy Bysshe Shelley's door? Possibly his own, along with those of the two men who drowned with him when their yacht sank off the Italian coast. But before that, there was his young wife, Harriet, who committed suicide after he abandoned her. And if one is feeling censorious (and one is), most of his children with his second wife, "Frankenstein" creator Mary Shelley: Three of them died by the age of 3 after needless travel made at his poetical whim.

Now, ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Percy Bysshe Shelley

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.