Catherine Maxwell Livres

This book offers a fresh perspective on late Victorian literature by exploring its connections to visionary Romanticism through the works of six notable writers. It delves into the unique contributions of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Walter Pater, Vernon Lee, Eugene Lee-Hamilton, Theodore Watts-Dunton, and Thomas Hardy, highlighting how their literary endeavors reflect and reshape Romantic ideals. The analysis reveals the intricate interplay between these authors and the cultural context of their time, enriching the understanding of their impact on literature.

The collection presents critical essays on Vernon Lee, highlighting key works like Euphorion, Hauntings: Fantastic Stories, and Music and Its Lovers. Scholars explore Lee's intellectual contributions and aesthetic philosophy, while also illuminating her relationships with contemporaries such as Lee-Hamilton, Pater, and Wilde. This comprehensive analysis offers fresh insights into Lee's influence and the cultural context of her time.

Focusing on the interplay between vision and gender in poetry, this study examines how Milton influences later male poets like Shelley, Tennyson, Browning, and Swinburne. It argues that achieving poetic vision often entails a form of symbolic blindness and a feminization of the male poet. The exploration encompasses themes such as myth, the gendered nature of the sublime, the lyric fragment, and the connection between pain and creativity, offering a significant re-evaluation of male poets and their role in shaping the English poetic tradition.

Catherine embarks on a year of travel to heal after a tumultuous divorce and heartbreak. However, her journey is filled with unexpected challenges, including getting lost in foreign lands, dealing with bedbugs, and navigating the complexities of fleeting romantic encounters. This exploration reveals the realities of single parenting and the unpredictability of life on the road, contrasting her initial fantasies with the often humorous and difficult experiences she faces.

This book argues that, in Victorian literature, transgressive desires that cannot be openly acknowledged are often buried and encrypted in the marble bodies of statues.