The Shelleys and the Art of Suffering

Mary Shelley's posthumous editions of Percy Shelley's poetry and prose have been regarded as striking examples of collaborative literary achievement, but in her editorial annotations Mary represents her husband's work as the result of his innately solitary genius. She does so in particular by associating his creative power with his constitutional ill-health. Via a reading of Percy's Julian and Maddalo, I argue that this connection between creativity and bodily debility does not imply that his poetry annuls the social context of its writing; instead, Mary seeks to ameliorate the conflict between philanthropy and sociability that she detects in Percy's work.