In Defense of Harriet Shelley by Mark Twain

Jan 01 2024 3 ep. 34 mins 242
In Defense of Harriet Shelley by Mark Twain Podcast artwork

Mark Twain pulls no punches while exposing the "real" Percy Shelley in this scathing condemnation of Edward Dowden's "Life of Shelley". Even though, as Twain writes, "Shelley's life has the one indelible blot upon it, but is otherwise worshipfully noble and beautiful", Twain shows how Shelley's extra-marital conduct might easily be seen to have been the cause of his wife Harriet's suicide. (Introduction by John Greenman)