Main entry:

Clairmont, Claire, 1798-1879, author.

Title & Author:

The journals of Claire Clairmont / edited by Marion Kingston Stocking, with the assistance of David Mackenzie Stocking.

Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 1968.
©1968

Description:

xx, 571 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 483-499) and index; "Claire Clairmont's reading list and list of performances attended": pages 501-520.
First journal : Aug. 14, 1814 to Nov. 9, 1814 -- Second journal : Jan. 18, 1818 to April 20, 1818 -- Third journal : Mar. 7, 1819 to Aug. 1, 1820 -- Fourth journal : Aug. 5, 1820 to April 13, 1822 ; Sept. 19-20, 1822 -- Fifth journal : May 12 (24), 1825 to Jan. 2 (14), 1826 -- Sixth journal : Dec. 21, 1826 to Feb. 2, 1827, with omissions -- Miscellanea (two leaflets) : 1828-1830 -- Appendix A : "The English in Italy" -- Appendix B : Some reviews of theatrical productions attended by the Shelleys and Claire Clairmont in 1818 -- Appendix C. : Biographical sketches -- Marianna Candida Dionigi, Andrea Vacca Berlinghieri, Elizabeth Parker ("Suora Ancilla"), Lega Zambelli, Henry Willey Reveley, Antonio Bojti, Tommaso Sgricci, Alexander Mavrocordato -- Appendix D : "A fragment-" -- Genealogical charts -- Bibliography and manuscript sources -- Claire Clairmont's reading list and list of performances attended.
In English.

Summary:

The diaries of Clairmont are, so far as is known, the last of the major documents of the Shelley-Byron circle to be published. Only the writings of the Shelleys themselves surpass hers in importance for those interested in the careers of the poets and their friends. Best known as Byron's mistress and the mother of his daughter Allegra, "Claire," as she preferred to be called, is important to literary history for her role in bringing Byron and Shelley together.
The diaries of Clara Mary Jane Clairmont are, so far as is known, the last of the major documents of the Shelley-Byron circle to be published. Only the writings of the Shelleys themselves surpass hers in importance for those interested in the careers of the poets and their friends. Best known as Byron's mistress and the mother of his daughter Allegra, "Claire," as she preferred to be called, is important to literary history for her role in bringing Byron and Shelley together. Claire Clairmont began her journals in 1814, when she accompanied Shelley and her half-sister, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, on their elopement to the continent. She continued to write them until after Byron and Shelley were dead and she was living as a governess with a wealthy family in Moscow. The journals present a detailed and fascinating picture of life with the Shelley family their discovery of the European landscape, wretched days in London dodging bailiffs and bill collectors, happy days of opera and ballet and endless conversations. Our knowledge of the Shelleys' life in Italy is expanded by this intimate view of the brilliant society of artists, writers, musicians, actors, scholars, revolutionaries, and nobility who were their constant companions. The later entries provide an account of the daily life of an Englishwoman living in Russia during the exciting time of the Decembrist uprising. In The Journals of Claire Clairemont, Stocking has brought together five of Claire's journals, all that is known of the now-lost Russian journal, and two leaflets of Miscellanea dealing with the years 1828 to 1830. The interruptions in the diaries are bridged by narratives that allow the reader to follow her life, as she develops from an effervescent schoolgirl into a self-possessed, attractive, and talented young woman. Appendices present reviews of theatrical performances seen by Claire and the Shelleys, biographical sketches of the varied personages they knew in Italy, a review by Mary Shelley (1826) describing people and life on the Continent as Claire and the Shelleys saw it, and the text of a manuscript fragment, possibly by Claire, containing thinly disguised romantic portrayals of the Shelleys and Jane and Edward Ellerker Williams. There is also a list of Claire's voluminous and systematic reading. Editorial comment within the body of the text has been kept to a minimum, and all of Claire's rewritings and crossings out are clearly indicated. Genealogical tables and numerous footnotes help to place Claire's journals in their proper social and historical perspective.

Subject:

Clairmont, Claire, 1798-1879 Diaries.
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822 Family.
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824 Relations with women.
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824
Clairmont, Claire, 1798-1879
Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822
Clairmont, Claire 1798-1879
Clairmont, Clara Mary Jane.
Mistresses Diaries.
Adventure and adventurers Great Britain Diaries.
Poets, English 19th century Biography.
Maîtresses Journaux intimes.
Poètes anglais 19e siècle Biographies.
Adventure and adventurers.
Families.
Manners and customs.
Mistresses.
Poets, English.
Relations with women.
Travel.
Europe Description and travel.
Soviet Union Social life and customs.
Europe Descriptions et voyages.
URSS Mœurs et coutumes.
Europe.
Great Britain.
Soviet Union.
Byron, George Gordon Byron Baron 1788-1824 Relations with women
Clairmont, Clara Mary Jane 1798-1879 Diaries
Shelley, Percy Bysshe 1792-1822 Family

Form/genre:

Tagebuch 1814-1827.
diaries.
travelers’ writings.
travelog (performed works genre)
Biographies.
Diaries.
Travel writing.
Journaux intimes.
Récits de voyages.

Added entries:

Stocking, Marion Kingston, editor.
Stocking, David M., editor.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 1797-1851. English in Italy.
Harvard University. Press, publisher.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 14913
Call No.: ID:87-B4372
Status: Available