Biofictions

The starting point for this collection of essays is the observation that as a literary subject, fictionalized and dramatized "lives" in the form of fictional biographies/biographical fiction, bio-dramas, and bio-pics are very much in evidence on the contemporary scene. And it appears that the lives of the British Romantics and the myths surrounding them have a special appeal for contemporary writers. Biofictions sets out to explore this renewed interest in Romantic artist-figures in the context of the current renaissance of "life-writing." The essays collected here deal with Romantic "biofictions" by such authors as Peter Ackroyd, Adrian Mitchell, Ann Jellicoe, Liz Lochhead, Judith Chernaik, Amanda Prantera, Robert Nye, Tom Stoppard, Howard Brenton, Edward Bond, and others. Thomas Chatterton, William Blake, James Hogg, Sir Walter Scott, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, John Polidori, John Clare, and -- most prominently -- Lord Byron feature as the "biographical subjects" in the words discussed. Martin Middeke is Professor of English Literature at Augsburg University and Werner Huber is Professor of English and American Language and Literature at the University of Vienna.