The Lost Romantics

This essay collection takes a fresh look at Romanticism by questioning the familiar core of six major Romantic writers, who were all white men. Its contributors turn instead to marginalised and forgotten authors whose work has been overlooked for a long time. The book maps the different layers of obscurity that have buried these figures and traces the dense web of friendships and feuds that connected them to the celebrated names of the period, who appear less monolithic on closer inspection. It examines how these lost poets helped shape anthologised verse and how they acted as essential muses, companions and conversation partners to the leading figures. The collection argues that their influence on the literary scene has been consistently undervalued. It also considers several authors behind famous single works, including Frankenstein and The Vampyre, who won sudden fame or notoriety with those texts but saw their other fiction fail.