Overview
Down to the Sunless Sea explores the time Coleridge spent in Gibraltar, Malta, Sicily and mainland Italy, where he had planned to recover his health, escape the clutches of opium and gain inspiration from the landscape; however, the reality would prove very different. After his short sojourn in Gibraltar, Coleridge arrived in Malta, where he became acquainted with the British Governor, Alexander Ball. He settled into Maltese life, initially taking on the role of acting Under-Secretary. Travelling to Sicily, Coleridge embraced the island's landscapes but was shaken to find the opium poppy was an important local crop. The Mediterranean would not prove the solution to his addiction. He visited the Consul, G. F. Leckie, and was invited to stay with him at a house on the site of Timoleon's Greek villa. The poet visited the antiquities of Syracuse and at the opera house encountered the soprano, Anna-Cecilia Bertozzi, nearly succumbing to her charms. Back in Malta, he was offered rooms in the Treasury building (now the Casino Maltese) and took up the post of Public Secretary. Legal pronouncements in Italian bear Coleridge's signature. Leaving behind these matters of state, he drifted through the Italian peninsula, engaging with a coterie of artistic ex-pats when in Rome. His listless, half-hearted, and financially embarrassed attempts at the Grand Tour included a narrow escape from French troops. Coleridge's Mediterranean sojourn impacted on his life and writing, not to mention his health, which saw a marked decline, leading to his final years in Highgate under the roof of a friendly doctor. Down to the Sunless Sea is a literary reflection on the fact that the sun-filled Mediterranean was not the tonic he had first imagined.
Full Product Details
Author: Andrew Edwards ,
Suzanne Edwards
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Imprint: Liverpool University Press
Weight: 0.294kg
ISBN: 9781789761252
ISBN 10: 1789761255
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 06 June 2022
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
‘Down to the Sunless Sea: A Troubled Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the Mediterranean, by Andrew and Suzanne Edwards, is a welcome addition to the existing scholarly work. It provides the reader with a concise and highly engaging introduction to Coleridge in the Mediterranean, whilst also furnishing a tour d’ horizon of Coleridge’s post-Malta life and work. It further provides readers interested in tracing Coleridge’s footsteps with a guide and critical commentary. This not only includes Coleridge’s observations of landscape and people, but also sets out the social, political, and geo-political context to Coleridge’s period in the Mediterranean.’ Barry Hough, The Coleridge Bulletin
Author Information
Andrew and Suzanne Edwards have contributed articles to numerous publications in the fields of travel and literature. Their books include Sicily: A Literary Guide for Travellers (2014), Andalucía: A Literary Guide for Travellers (2016), and His Master's Reflection: Travels with John Polidori, Lord Byron's Doctor (2018). Suzanne and Andrew Edwards have contributed articles to numerous publications in the fields of travel and literature. Their books include Sicily: A Literary Guide for Travellers (2014), Andalucía: A Literary Guide for Travellers (2016), and His Master's Reflection: Travels with John Polidori, Lord Byron's Doctor (2018).
