Description: In recent years Christina Rossetti's star has soared. Now, as we have reached the centenary of her death, Rossetti (1830-1894) is considered one of the major poets -- not just one of the major women poets -- of the Victorian era. Leading critics have demonstrated how studies of Rossetti's work, her daily life, her relationships with the Pre-Raphaelites, and her interactions with other women authors of the period can help us understand the unique cultural situation of Victorian women writers. All that has been lacking is the publication of her complete letters.

When complete, four volumes will make available all of Rossetti's extant letters, almost two-thirds of which have never been published (and those that have been published were often heavily expurgated). The thirty years covered in this first volume were in many ways the most eventful in Rossetti's life. Of its 536 letters, over 300 are to friends and acquaintances during her most intensely social period. "In 1848 her two brothers and five of their artist friends formed the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, hoping to revolutionize painting in their era", writes Antony Harrison in his introduction. "Rossetti became an unofficial member, the sole Sister of the group, and its influences on her life -- direct and indirect -- were profound.... Her association with this varied group of artists radically expanded her social sphere, introducing her to such well-known Victorians as John Ruskin, Robert Browning, Barbara Bodichon, W. J. Stillman, and Lewis Carroll".

Hundreds of letters from Rossetti to her brothers, William Michael and Dante Gabriel, and to her sister-in-law Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti survive to reveal intimate details of theRossettis' family life, their illnesses, and their accomplishments. The letters in this first volume reveal Dante Gabriel's support of his sister's work as well as his relentless criticism and pressure on her to revise and to produce more. And they show the sensitivity with which she nurtured him after his attempted suicide. Her correspondence with William Michael shows her deep love for him and her concern when his engagement to Henrietta Rintoul dissolved.

These letters offer a rich portrait of the habits of mind, the sentiments, and the personal and professional relationships of an extraordinary Victorian poet who was at once eccentric and culturally representative. Perhaps of greatest interest to most readers will be the many letters in which she openly discusses her aesthetic, social, moral political, and religious values.

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