Vernon Lee, Belcaro, Being Essays on Sundry Aesthetical Questions

Dominique Gracia (University of Exeter)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.08: English Writing and Culture of the early Twentieth Century , 1900-1945.
Vol. editors: Chris Baldick (Goldsmiths College, University of London), Peter Childs (Newman University), Louise McDonald (Newman University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1883

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)

Resources

Published in 1881, Vernon Lee’s Belcaro: Being Essays on Sundry Aesthetical Questions continued her engagement with aesthetic questions through the essay form. Dedicated to poet A. Mary F. Robinson and written early in their passionate (likely lesbian) friendship, Lee describes the collection as a “scholar’s copy book” (5). Accordingly, Lee seeks not to set out “a system” of “art-philosophy” (8) but commits to the view that “the complete and systematic is worthless and even dangerous, for it is false; the irrelevant, the contradictory, is precious, because it is true to our better part” (225).

The form of Belcaro echoes Lee&…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

644 words

Citation: Gracia, Dominique. "Belcaro, Being Essays on Sundry Aesthetical Questions". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 June 2019 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=33566, accessed 24 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Save this article