Percy Bysshe Shelley, Zastrossi

Mark Sandy (University of Durham)

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 1810

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Gothic & Ghosts
Novel
Romance

Resources

Often critically neglected as a piece of Shelley's juvenilia, Zastrossi was composed between the March and late August of 1809. Arguably one of Shelley's earliest surviving works of prose fiction (aside from St. Irvyne, or The Rosicrucian 1811 [See Separate Entry] and his abandoned The Assassins 1814), Zastrossi marks his first major creative venture into the domain of Gothic-romance. The London publishers J. Wilkie and G. Robinson issued Shelley's tale of Gothic horror in the following spring of 1810. The plot, subject, and style of Zastrossi are indebted to Shelley's avid reading, during in his time at Eton, of popular and sensationalist fiction. In composing Zastrossi, Shelley relied heavily o…

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713 words

Citation: Sandy, Mark. "Zastrossi". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 September 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8926, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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