Author Description

The 205 new writings by William Hazlitt collected for the first time in this volume provide a fuller picture than has hitherto been available of his career as journalist, particularly his work for the Morning Chronicle, The Times and The Atlas. Newly discovered works include major essays on the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge, a defence of Byron and Shelley against charges of immorality, an analysis of the three trials of the Regency publisher and writer William Hone, and a series of reminiscences and anecdotes from Hazlitt's last years. In addition, there are important essays on Napoleon, the Vienna Congress, and on Southey's appointment as Poet Laureate; notices of Edmund Kean, Dora Jordan and Fanny Kemble; reviews of Coleridge's Christabel, Byron's Sardanapalus and Hunt's Rimini; and essays on the fine arts, including exhibitions at the British Institution. Duncan Wu has surveyed all the publications for which Hazlitt wrote, as well as many for which he didn't, to find these neglected works. Each one is edited from its original printed source, prefaced with a detailed explanation of its attribution, and annotations providing information necessary to a full understanding of context and content. The volume also provides a partial bibliography of Hazlitt's journalism.