Romantic Satanism: Myth and the Historical Moment in Blake, Shelley and Byron

Criticism has largely emphasised the private meaning of 'Romantic Satanism', treating it as the celebration of subjectivity through allusions to Paradise Lost that voice Satan's solitary defiance. The first full-length treatment of its subject, Romantic Satanism explores this literary phenomenon as a socially produced myth exhibiting the response of writers to their milieu. Through contextualized readings of the major works of Blake, Shelley, and Byron, this book demonstrates that Satanism enabled Romantic writers to interpret their tempestuous age: it provided them a mythic medium for articulating the hopes and fears their age aroused, for prophesying and inducing change.

Author: P. Schock
Publisher: Palgrave MacMillan
Published: 07/08/2003
Pages: 213
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.88lbs
Size: 9.00h x 5.42w x 0.66d
ISBN: 9781403911827

Review Citation(s):
Choice 03/01/2004 pg. 1299

About the Author
PETER A. SCHOCK received his A.B. in English at California State University at Humboldt and his Ph.D at the University of Iowa. He has taught Romantic Literature at the University of New Orleans since 1989; he is now Professor. Previous publications include essays in ELH and Keats-Shelley Journal.