A Conversation with Jude Morgan. Historical Perspective. Keep on Reading PASSION: A Reading Group Gold Selection ANOVEL

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PASSION: ANOVEL A Conversation with Jude Morgan Personal History and Literary Inspiration Historical Perspective Selected Works by Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and

1 PASSION: ANOVEL A Conversation with Jude Morgan Personal History and Literary Inspiration Historical Perspective Selected Works by Lord Byron, John Keats, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and Percy Bysshe Shelley A Reading Group Gold Selection Keep on Reading Recommended Reading Reading Group Questions For more reading group suggestions visit ST. MARTIN S GRIFFIN

2 A Conversation with Jude Morgan What was the inspiration for your book? A lifelong interest in the Romantic poets but particularly the backseat or passive role taken by the women in their biographies. What was their side of the story? Historical novels needn t be stuffy and stately they can have a contemporary resonance. Is there a book that most influenced your life? Or inspired you to become a writer? Hilary Mantel s A Place of Greater Safety, a historical novel about the French Revolution. It opened my eyes to the idea that historical novels needn t be stuffy and stately, and that they can have a contemporary resonance. What are some of your other top-ten favorite books, and what makes them special to you? 1. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens, a darkly brilliant and linguistically exuberant portrait of a whole society. 2. Jane Austen s Emma: the most perfectly shaped and plotted novel ever. 3. Don Juan by Lord Byron, an epic poem as fascinating and brilliant as any novel. 4. Middlemarch by George Eliot, a novel that celebrates intelligence. 5. Tess of the d Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. It s intensely moving and tragic, yet life-enhancing.

3 6. Laurence Sterne s Tristram Shandy, because it explores and pushes the boundaries of fiction. 7. F. Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby for its superbly economical yet evocative prose. 8. The Alexander Trilogy by Mary Renault historical fiction of crystalline sharpness and balance. 9. Love for Lydia by H. E. Bates: painterly prose, a haunting atmosphere. 10. The Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy by Tad Williams: heaven for fans of genre fantasy! A Conversation with Jude Morgan What are some of your favorite films, and what makes them unforgettable to you? The original 1933 King Kong, for its atmosphere and full-blooded performances. It s a Wonderful Life, for its emotional richness. The Grapes of Wrath, superbly pictorial, impeccably paced. Amadeus, for its visual flamboyance. What types of music do you like? Is there any particular kind you like to listen to when you re writing? The music I like is classical, especially nineteenthcentury Romantic, and I listen to it all the time when writing as long as it s nonvocal.

4 Do you have any special writing rituals? For example, what do you have on your desk when you re writing? My main writing ritual is to have large pinboards above my desk covered with portraits, etc., from the period I m writing about; I need the visual stimulus. Did you have any interesting experiences when you were researching Passion, or getting it published? Being given a guided tour of the preserved offices of John Murray Publishers, where Byron hung out and much of his memorabilia could be seen, was an enormous inspiration. How long did it take for you to get where you are today? Any rejection-slip horror stories or inspirational anecdotes? I got where I am today after working for a long time in genre a great apprenticeship. I always say: don t disdain genre. Passion was my dream project and it was a great (and grueling) experience.

5 Historical Perspective Here is a sampling of poems, writings, and letters from key figures in Passion and the Romantic era. LORD BYRON ( ) She Walks in Beauty 1814 She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that s best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect and her eyes: Thus mellowed to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies. Historical Perspective One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace Which waves in every raven tress, Or softly lightens o er her face; Where thoughts serenely sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling place. And on that cheek, and o er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent!

6 Poem for Lady Caroline Lamb (reportedly written after she wrote Remember me on the flyleaf of one of Byron s books) Remember thee! remember thee! Till Lethe quench life s burning stream Remorse and shame shall cling to thee, And haunt thee like a feverish dream! tell of days in goodness spent / A mind at peace with all below / A heart whose love is innocent! Byron Remember thee! Aye, doubt it not. Thy husband too shall think of thee: By neither shalt thou be forgot, Thou false to him, thou fiend to me! From Epistle to Augusta (written 1816, first published 1830) My sister! my sweet sister! if a name Dearer and purer were, it should be thine; Mountains and seas divide us, but I claim No tears, but tenderness to answer mine: Go where I will, to me thou art the same A loved regret which I would not resign. There yet are two things in my destiny, A world to roam through, and a home with thee. The first were nothing had I still the last, It were the haven of my happiness; But other claims and other ties thou hast, And mine is not the wish to make them less. So We ll Go No More a Roving 1817 So we ll go no more a roving So late into the night, Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright.

7 For the sword outwears its sheath, And the soul wears out the breast, And the heart must pause to breathe, And Love itself have rest. Though the night was made for loving, And the day returns too soon, Yet we ll go no more a roving By the light of the moon. JOHN KEATS ( ) Ode on a Grecian Urn 1819 Historical Perspective Thou still unravish d bride of quietness, Thou foster-child of Silence and slow Time, Sylvan historian, who canst thus express A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme: What leaf-fringed legend haunts about thy shape Of deities or mortals, or of both, In Tempe or the dales of Arcady? What men or gods are these? What maidens loth? What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape? What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy? Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on; Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear d, Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone: Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare; Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss, Though winning near the goal yet, do not grieve; She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

8 Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu; And, happy melodist, unwearièd, For ever piping songs for ever new; More happy love! more happy, happy love! For ever warm and still to be enjoy d, For ever panting, and for ever young; All breathing human passion far above, That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy d, A burning forehead, and a parching tongue. Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter. Keats Who are these coming to the sacrifice? To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest? What little town by river or sea-shore, Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel, Is emptied of its folk, this pious morn? And, little town, thy streets for evermore Will silent be; and not a soul, to tell Why thou art desolate, can e er return. O Attic shape! fair attitude! with brede Of marble men and maidens overwrought, With forest branches and the trodden weed; Thou, silent form! dost tease us out of thought As doth eternity: Cold Pastoral! When old age shall this generation waste, Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe Than ours, a friend to man, to whom thou say st, Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Letter to Fanny Brawne February 1820 My dear Fanny, How illness stands as a barrier betwixt me and you! Even if I was well I must make myself as

9 good a Philosopher as possible. Now I have had opportunities of passing nights anxious and awake I have found other thoughts intrude upon me. If I should die, said I to myself, I have left no immortal work behind me nothing to make my friends proud of my memory but I have lov d the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remember d. Thoughts like these came very feebly whilst I was in health and every pulse beat for you now you divide with this (may I say it?) last infirmity of noble minds all my reflection. God bless you, Love. J. Keats Historical Perspective MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY ( ) Letter to Leigh Hunt March 5, I had a dream tonight of the dead being alive which has affected my spirits. Journal entry May 28, 1817 I am melancholy with reading the 3rd canto of Childe Harold. Do you not remember, Shelley, when you first read it to me. The lake was before us, and the mighty Jura. That time is past, and this will also pass, when I may weep to read these words, and again moralise on the flight of time.

10 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ( ) Ode to the West Wind O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn s being Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing, O lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! Shelley Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence-stricken multitudes: O thou Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow Her clarion o er the dreaming earth, and fill (Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odours plain and hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and Preserver; hear, Oh, hear! 2. Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky s commotion, Loose clouds like earth s decaying leaves are shed, Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean, Angels of rain and lightning: they are spread On the blue surface of thine aery surge, Like the bright hair uplifted from the head Of some fierce Mænad, even from the dim verge Of the horizon to the zenith s height, The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge Of the dying year, to which this closing night Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre, Vaulted with all thy congregated might

11 Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh, hear! 3. Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams The blue Mediterranean, where he lay, Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams, Beside a pumice isle in Baie s bay, And saw in sleep old palaces and towers Quivering within the wave s intenser day, All overgrown with azure moss and flowers So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou For whose path the Atlantic s level powers Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear The sapless foliage of the ocean, know Historical Perspective Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear And tremble and despoil themselves: oh, hear! 4. If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share The impulse of thy strength, only less free Than thou, O uncontrollable! If even I were as in my boyhood, and could be The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven, As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed Scarce seem d a vision; I would ne er have striven As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need. Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! A heavy weight of hours has chained and bow d One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

12 5. Make me thy lyre, ev n as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over the universe Like withered leaves, to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O, Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? An excerpt from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats 1821 I weep for Adonais he is dead! O, weep for Adonais! though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head! And thou, sad Hour, selected from all years To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers, And teach them thine own sorrow, say: With me Died Adonais; till the Future dares Forget the Past, his fate and fame shall be An echo and a light unto eternity!

13 Recommended Reading Biography Bryon: Life and Legend Fiona MacCarthy Shelley: The Pursuit Richard Holmes Keats Andrew Motion Mary Shelley Miranda Seymour The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft Claire Tomalin Keep on Reading History Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background, Marilyn Butler Romantic Affinities: Portraits from an Age, Rupert Christiansen Poetry The New Penguin Book of Romantic Poetry Edited by Jonathan Wordsworth and Jessica Wordsworth

14 Reading Group Questions 1. Passion is called A Novel of the Romantic Poets. Do you regard Passion as the life stories of Mary Shelley, Lady Caroline Lamb, and Augusta Leigh the wives and lovers of the poets or the stories of the poets themselves, as seen through the eyes of the women? 2. The word passion can connote sexual desire; ardent affection or love; an intense, driving feeling or conviction; or suffering. What does passion mean for the characters in this novel? 3. In what ways are these women s lives enriched and/or undermined by their involvement with the Romantic Poets? 4. The book opens with the attempted suicide of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley s mother and author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. How does this scene influence your interpretation of Mary Shelley s life? Why does the book begin here? 5. In some ways Augusta seems to start out as the most docile and least rebellious of the women in this book. How does she come to step so far outside the usual bounds of society? As for Byron, do you believe he was madly in love with Augusta, or did she merely represent another taboo he wished to break?

15 6. Lady Caroline Lamb famously described Byron as mad, bad, and dangerous to know. Is he wholly responsible for her downfall, or could she have taken a different path? 7. Do you fault Mary for remaining loyal to Shelley when she knew that he would never remain celibate or loyal to her? How did their relationship influence her own work? 8. In what ways are Keats s illness and his love for Fanny the same? The illness is described as a demanding presence, and this one was doubly demanding because of the love. Did Keats s love for Fanny speed his death? Reading Group Questions 9. When Fanny imagines visiting Keats s grave, she cannot bring herself to look at the tombstone s inscription. Keats s tombstone in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome reads, Here lies one whose name was writ in water. What does this inscription mean to Fanny? 10. If this book were narrated by the poets, how would the women be represented differently? Do the poets see them as muses? Distractions? Rivals? How did they view the women s own work and concerns?

On a Grecian Urn (Annals of the Fine Arts MDCCCXIX) appeared January 1920 Signed with a cross. (Annals)

On a Grecian Urn (Annals of the Fine Arts MDCCCXIX) appeared January 1920 Signed with a cross. (Annals) 2 nd publication, 1820 in Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) Ode on a