Synopses & Reviews
In recent years Christina Rossetti's star has soared. Now, as we have reached the centenary of her death, Rossetti (1830-1894) is considered one of the major poets -- not just one of the major women poets -- of the Victorian era. Leading critics have demonstrated how studies of Rossetti's work, her daily life, her relationships with the Pre-Raphaelites, and her interactions with other women authors of the period can help us understand the unique cultural situation of Victorian women writers. All that has been lacking is the publication of her complete letters.
When complete, four volumes will make available all of Rossetti's extant letters, almost two-thirds of which have never been published (and those that have been published were often heavily expurgated). The thirty years covered in this first volume were in many ways the most eventful in Rossetti's life. Of its 536 letters, over 300 are to friends and acquaintances during her most intensely social period. "In 1848 her two brothers and five of their artist friends formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, hoping to revolutionize painting in their era", writes Antony Harrison in his introduction. "Rossetti became an unofficial member, the sole Sister of the group, and its influences on her life -- direct and indirect -- were profound.... Her association with this varied group of artists radically expanded her social sphere, introducing her to such well-known Victorians as John Ruskin, Robert Browning, Barbara Bodichon, W. J. Stillman, and Lewis Carroll".
Hundreds of letters from Rossetti to her brothers, William Michael and Dante Gabriel, and to her sister-in-law Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti survive to reveal intimate details of theRossettis' family life, their illnesses, and their accomplishments. The letters in this first volume reveal Dante Gabriel's support of his sister's work as well as his relentless criticism and pressure on her to revise and to produce more. And they show the sensitivity with which she nurtured him after his attempted suicide. Her correspondence with William Michael shows her deep love for him and her concern when his engagement to Henrietta Rintoul dissolved.
These letters offer a rich portrait of the habits of mind, the sentiments, and the personal and professional relationships of an extraordinary Victorian poet who was at once eccentric and culturally representative. Perhaps of greatest interest to most readers will be the many letters in which she openly discusses her aesthetic, social, moral political, and religious values.
Synopsis
In recent years Christina Rossetti's star has soared. Rossetti(1830-1894) has come to be considered one of the major poets--not just one of themajor women poets--of the Victorian era, eclipsing her famous brother. Leadingcritics have demonstrated how studies of Rossetti's work, her daily life, herrelationships with the Pre-Raphaelites, and her interactions with other womenauthors of the period can help us understand the unique cultural situation ofVictorian women writers. When complete in four volumes, this project will makeavailable all of Rossetti's extant letters, almost two-thirds of which have neverbeen published.
The third volume of the Letterscovers years in which Christina Rossetti lost several important family members, including her mother, her brother Dante, and a young nephew, Michael, and many closefriends. Her preoccupation with their illnesses and with memorializing her brothertook its toll on her poetic output. In the face of her loss, she turned increasinglyto religion and wrote works of devotional prose--Time Flies, Letter and Spirit--notdesigned to attract much literary attention. Rossetti herself had been diagnosedwith Graves' disease in 1872; by 1874 she had recovered but continued to use herearlier health problems to identify herself as a semi-recluse, which allowed her adegree of freedom she might not have had otherwise. This self-imposed reclusiveness, however, gave rise to a large correspondence, in which her interests andsensibilities were given broad exposure. She devoted more time to favored causes, including antivivisectionism and the protection of minors, and her letters affordthe reader an in-depth perspective on these and other public issues and on thepersonal values underlying her opinions.
Synopsis
IN RECENT YEARS Christina Rossetti's star has soared. Now, as wehave reached the centenary of her death, Rossetti (1830-1894) is considered one ofthe major poets--not just one of the major women poets--of the Victorian era.Leading critics have demonstrated how studies of Rossetti's work, her daily life, her relationships with the Pre-Raphaelites, and her interactions with other womenauthors of the period can help us understand the unique cultural situation ofVictorian women writers. When complete in four volumes, this project will makeavailable all of Rossetti's extant letters, almost two-thirds of which have neverbeen published.
The letters in this second volumeexpose a woman of powerful intellect, complex emotions, unshakeable convictions, and loving heart. Rossetti, forty-three years old in 1874, is now an establishedpoet with a strong literary reputation among her contemporaries. But, as Harrisonpoints out in his introduction to the volume, two thirds of her life was over, andits losses were mounting. The marriage of William Michael, the death of her sister, Maria, Dante Gabriel's addiction to chloral and the illness that led to his death in1882, and the deaths of close personal and family friends overshadow these years.Her own affliction with Graves' disease contributed to her becoming reclusive and asemi-invalid. She nonetheless continued to work and publish.
Synopsis
Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) has come to be considered one ofthe major poets--not just one of the major women poets--of the Victorian era, eclipsing her famous brother. Leading critics have demonstrated how studies ofRossetti's work, her daily life, her relationships with the Pre-Raphaelites, and herinteractions with other women authors of the period can help us understand theunique cultural situation of Victorian women writers. The Letters of ChristinaRossetti, four volumes, makes available all of Rossetti's extant letters, almosttwo-thirds of which have never before been published. These letters come from overone hundred private and institutional collections, scattered from Scotland toAustralia.
The fourth and final volume of theLetters covers the last eight years of Christina Rossetti's life. In 1887 Rossetti, at the age of fifty-six, was living with her two aged, ailing aunts. In addition tomanaging the household and nursing her aunts, she published an enlarged edition ofher collected poems and, in 1892, wrote her greatest book of devotional prose, TheFace of the Deep. She also oversaw the production of a new and enlarged edition ofSing-Song, published in 1893.
As a stay-at-homesemi-invalid, she maintained a very large correspondence with friends and familymembers. Her most intimate relationship was with her sole remaining sibling, WilliamMichael Rossetti, but other correspondents include Amelia Barnard Heimann, CarolineGemmer, Frederic Shields, Rose Donne Hake, Olivia Garnett, Ellen Proctor, LisaWilson, Arthur Symons, and Mackenzie Bell, who became her first biographer. In theseletters we discover Rossetti's views on subjects as diverse as the artistry of herpoems, her health, aging, death, gender roles, money, cats, flowers, games, and herown supposed sinfulness.
In May of 1892Christina Rossetti was diagnosed with breast cancer--her most serious medical crisissince her nearly fatal attack of Graves' disease in the early 1870s. The cancer wasremoved, but she suffered a recurrence in September 1894 and died on December 29thof that year.
Synopsis
In recent years Christina Rossetti's star has soared. Rossetti (1830-1894) has come to be considered one of the major poets--not just one of the major women poets--of the Victorian era, eclipsing her famous brother. Leading critics have demonstrated how studies of Rossetti's work, her daily life, her relationships with the Pre-Raphaelites, and her interactions with other women authors of the period can help us understand the unique cultural situation of Victorian women writers. When complete in four volumes, this project will make available all of Rossetti's extant letters, almost two-thirds of which have never been published.