A Man of Genius - Hardcover

Todd, Janet

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1908524596 ISBN 13: 9781908524591

Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press, 2016

Synopsis

“Strange and haunting, a gothic novel with a modern consciousness.” Philippa Gregory

"A quirky, darkly mischievous novel about love, obsession and the burden of charisma, played out against the backdrop of Venice's watery, decadent glory." Sarah Dunant

‘A mesmerizing story of love and obsession in nineteenth century Venice: dark and utterly compelling."
Natasha Solomons

"Intriguing and entertaining; a clever, beguiling debut.Todd knows her Venice backwards."
Salley Vickers

“Revealing, surprising, compelling, gripping.” Miriam Margolyes, actress

A Man of Genius portrays a psychological journey from safety into obsession and secrecy. It mirrors a physical passage from flamboyant Regency England through a Europe conquered by Napoleon.

Ann, a successful writer of cheap Gothic novels, becomes obsessed with Robert James, regarded by many, including himself, as a genius, with his ideas, his talk, and his band of male followers. However, their relationship becomes tortuous, as Robert descends into violence and madness.

The pair leaves London for occupied Venice, where Ann tries to cope with the monstrous ego of her lover. Forced to flee with a stranger, she delves into her past, to be jolted by a series of revelations--about her lover, her parentage, the stranger, and herself.

Janet Todd is known for her works about Mary Wollstonecraft, Aphra Behn, the Shelley circle, and Jane Austen. Born in Wales, her wandering childhood in the United Kingdom, Bermuda, and Sri Lanka led to work as an academic in Ghana, the United States, and United Kingdom. Her passion has been for women writers, the largely unknown and the famous. A former president of Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, she lives in Cambridge and Venice.

About this title

About the Author

Janet Todd was born in Wales and had a wandering childhood in England, Scotland, Bermuda and Ceylon. She worked as an academic in Ghana, Puerto Rico, the US (University of Florida and Professor at Rutgers, NJ), Scotland and England. An Emerita Professor at the University of Aberdeen, until recently she was President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge. An internationally renowned scholar, she is an expert on Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft and Aphra Behn. Her passion has been for women writers, both the largely unknown and the famous.

Reviews

The gothic novels of late 18th- and early 19th-century England tended to feature an innocent virgin led into dark adventures by an evil man. Ann St. Clair, the protagonist of Todd's novel, makes her living writing books like these, and though she's not proud of her proseâ each book, she knows, essentially rearranges the elements of romance, danger, and exotic travelâ she is proud of her independence. Then she meets the titular genius, a writer and radical whose great work, such as it was, is behind himâ and she goes from writing gothics to living one, complete with dangerous love, tragedy, a desperate escape, revelations about her parentage, and, when things look darkest, a chance for happiness. Historian Todd studies the era, and in her first work of fiction, she both evokes and comments on these novels, as Ann, who is neither young nor a virgin, falls prey to the genius's violent charisma. Unfortunately, both language and plot are slow going: Ann compares the sea to a "large white hand with rosy clutching fingers bent on taking the life from the living," and many plot developments are apparent to the reader before they are to Ann, who ruminates over questions the reader has already answered. These choices may stem from the era and genre, but they wear thin. (Apr.)\n

Edition details

• Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1908524596
• ISBN 13: 9781908524591
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352