John Thelwall and the Materialist Imagination reassesses Thelwall's eclectic body of work from the perspective of his heterodox materialist arguments about the imagination, political reform, and the principle of life itself, and his contributions to Romantic-era science.

In this book, Yasmin Solomonescu makes a dynamic and integrative contribution to the rapidly expanding field of Thelwall Studies and adds a vital new voice to contemporary critical conversations about nineteenth-century aesthetics, politics, and sciences of mind. Solomonescu's energetic, accessible style reflects the 'practical fluency' that Thelwall practised and promoted. this book marks a vigorous start to Solomonescu's career, breathing new life into both Thelwall's oeuvre and his contribution to Romantic literature. (Judith Thompson, Review 19, nbol-19.org, May, 2016)

"John Thelwall and the Materialist Imagination covers the range of Thelwall's writing, including the novel Daughter of Adoption and the manuscript of poetry recently discovered in Derby. It includes an impressive account of the import of Thelwall's elocutionarywritings to his other work. The presentation of John Thelwall as the 'Champion of Materialism' for his period is the key contribution of this monograph. Not only does it develop recent interest in Thelwall in his own right, but it provides a new perspective on the understanding of his role in the period's materialist thinking. In this regard, Solomonescu's work will speak to medical historians and historians of science as well as scholars of the Romantic period." Jon Mee, University of York, UK

Autorentext
Yasmin Solomonescu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Previously she held a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship at York University, Toronto. In addition to publishing articles on Thelwall and Romantic-era literature, she has edited John Thelwall: Critical Reassessments (2011) and, with Michael Scrivener and Judith Thompson, Thelwall's The Daughter of Adoption (2013).

Inhalt
Acknowledgements List of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Introduction: 'Mister Surgeon Thelwall' 1. Vital Principles: From the Animal Body to the Body Politic 2. Errant Sympathies: The Peripatetic 3. From Self to Sentient Nature: Poems Written in Close Confinement and Poems, Chiefly Written in Retirement 4. Between Hope and Necessity: The Fairy of the Lake , The Hope of Albion , and The Daughter of Adoption 5. The Language of Nature: Elocutionary Writings and Poems, Chiefly Suggested by the Scenery of Nature 6. The Materialist Imagination: Late Poetry and Criticism Appendix Notes Bibliography Index