Mary Shelley, Stories for The Keepsake

Annalisa Volpone (Università di Perugia)

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Ed. by Daniel Cook, University of Dundee
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1828 - 1838

Places

United Kingdom (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Story

Resources

Between 1823 and 1839 Shelley wrote twenty-one stories for the literary annuals, which were gift-book anthologies of verse and prose. The aesthetic of these publications was influenced by the French and German tradition of pocketbooks and annuals, as well as by the forms of the manuscript album and the commonplace book that had been very successful in England too. They were issued in rich and elegant formats, with the aim of appealing to an aristocratic, or want-to-be aristocratic, readership of women: “[p]urchasing a piece of that excess, the middle-class reader bought the privileges of ownership, a bourgeoise semblance of aristocratic (self-) possession” (Hofkosh 1993, 206). Indeed, they were especially produced for …

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2177 words

Citation: Volpone, Annalisa. "Stories for The Keepsake". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 July 2021 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=39447, accessed 06 April 2025.]