Dorothy Wordsworth (Longman Cultural Editions)

Description

From Longman's Cultural Editions series, Dorothy Wordsworth, edited by internationally acclaimed expert Susan Levin, is the first to gather all the writings of Dorothy Wordsworth into a single volume, representing all the genres that attracted her pen poetry, journals, travelogues, letters, tales and narratives. Often treated merely as an appendage to her famous brother William, Dorothy Wordsworth emerges as a vital imagination, keenly tuned to her world, and pulsing with her own brilliance: journalist, poet, traveler, social activist, and crucial presence in the Wordsworth household. The world of Grasmere and its writing community are conveyed by selections from De Quincey on incest, Hannah Glasse on making mutton, a spy from the Home Office on "a sett of violent democrats," and a country farmer on "the pernicious and destructive consequences of enclosing common fields" -all in all more than 400 pages of seething Romanticism. Handsomely produced and affordably priced, the Longman Cultural Editions series presents classic works in provocative and illuminating contexts-cultural, critical, and literary. Each Cultural Edition consists of the complete texts of important literary works, reliably edited, headed by an inviting introduction, and supplemented by helpful annotations; a table of dates to track its composition, publication, and public reception in relation to biographical, cultural and historical events; and a guide for further inquiry and study.