Author Description

"From the raucous world of the Anti-Jacobin cartoon to lively conversations with Coleridge in the 'Salutation and Cat', Charles Lamb is right in the midst of the literary sociability of the 1790s - yet his part in the friendships, political networks and creative dialogues of the period has been overlooked. Arguing for a reconsideration of Lamb's early Unitarianism and allegiances to radical Dissent, James explores his exciting and varied works of the 1790s against a backdrop of social and political change. From playful forgeries and hoaxes to poignant family dramas and combative, vigorous, urban interpretations of Wordsworth, Lamb re-reads and re-writes many of the well-known narratives of Romanticism. Placing his little-known early works alongside Coleridge's conversation poems, Lyrical Ballads, The Borderers and The Ruined Cottage, this book uncovers the creative dynamics and the sociable conversations of early Romanticism. Moreover, understanding Lamb as writer, reader and friend gives us a valuable insight into how to read friendship itself in the 1790s."--BOOK JACKET.