98-405: Any Human Heart: The Intimate Journals of Logan Mountstuart is a 2002 novel by William Boyd , a British writer. It is written as a lifelong series of journals kept by the fictional character Mountstuart, a writer whose life (1906–1991) spanned the defining episodes of the 20th century, crossed several continents and included a convoluted sequence of relationships and literary endeavours. Boyd uses
196-422: A paling fence with gunpowder. In 1804, Shelley entered Eton College , a period which he later recalled with loathing. He was subjected to particularly severe mob bullying which the perpetrators called "Shelley-baits". A number of biographers and contemporaries have attributed the bullying to Shelley's aloofness, nonconformity and refusal to take part in fagging . His peculiarities and violent rages earned him
294-636: A "magician", while Le Nouvel Observateur called it "very good Boyd. Perhaps even his magnum opus ." In France the book won the 2003 Prix Jean Monnet de Littérature Européenne which rewards European authors for work written or translated into French. The novel was on the longlist for the Booker Prize in 2002, and on the shortlist for the International Dublin Literary Award in 2004. In 2009, Boyd commented, "[it] didn't get particularly good reviews, yet I've never had so many letters about
392-469: A French revolutionary émigré and hosted a salon where Shelley was able to discuss politics, philosophy and vegetarianism. Mrs. Boinville became a confidante of Shelley during his marital crisis. During a breakdown, Shelley moved into Mrs. Boinville's home outside London. In February and March 1814, he became infatuated with her married daughter, Cornelia Turner, age eighteen, and wrote erotic poetry about her in his notebook. Following Ianthe's birth,
490-489: A boating accident in 1822 at age 29. Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place , Warnham , Sussex , England. He was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley , 2nd Baronet of Castle Goring (1753–1844), a Whig Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1790 to 1792 and for Shoreham between 1806 and 1812, and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold (1763–1846), the daughter of a successful butcher. He had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. Shelley's early childhood
588-537: A communal household where all property would be shared. The Shelleys and Eliza spent December and January in Keswick where Shelley visited Robert Southey whose poetry he admired. Southey was taken with Shelley, even though there was a wide gulf between them politically, and predicted great things for him as a poet. Southey also informed Shelley that William Godwin , author of Political Justice , which had greatly influenced him in his youth, and which Shelley also admired,
686-559: A curious and forgotten figure in the annals of 20th-century literary life. 'A man of letters' is probably the only description which does justice to his strange career – by turns acclaimed or wholly indigent. Biographer, belletrist , editor, failed novelist, he was perhaps most successful at happening to be in the right place at the right time during most of the century, and his journal – a huge, copious document – will probably prove his lasting memorial. Boyd distinguished journal, biography and memoir as literary forms, different treatments of
784-558: A daughter, Clara Everina Shelley. Soon after, Shelley left for London with Claire, which increased Mary's resentment towards her stepsister. Shelley was arrested for two days in London over money he owed, and attorneys visited Mary in Marlowe over Shelley's debts. Shelley took part in the literary and political circle that surrounded Leigh Hunt , and during this period he met William Hazlitt and John Keats . Shelley's major work during this time
882-479: A deep game under his agile card tricks." Christopher Tayler, in the London Review of Books , called the characterisation of Mountstuart weak and wondered if he was merely a device through which Boyd could write pastiche about 20th-century writers, "Boyd hustles you through to the end despite all this, but it's hard not to wonder if it was really worth making the journey." In The Atlantic Monthly , Brooke Allen liked
980-548: A delusional episode triggered by stress. This was the first of a series of episodes in subsequent years where Shelley claimed to have been attacked by strangers during periods of personal crisis. Early in 1812, Shelley wrote, published and with Harriet personally distributed in Dublin three political tracts: An Address, to the Irish People; Proposals for an Association of Philanthropists; and Declaration of Rights . He also delivered
1078-469: A falling-out with his father. In late December 1810, Shelley had met Harriet Westbrook, a pupil at the same boarding school as Shelley's sisters. They corresponded frequently that winter and also after Shelley had been expelled from Oxford. Shelley expounded his radical ideas on politics, religion and marriage to Harriet, and they gradually convinced each other that she was oppressed by her father and at school. Shelley's infatuation with Harriet developed in
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#17328955846481176-468: A financial settlement with his father. On 23 June Harriet gave birth to a girl, Eliza Ianthe Shelley (known as Ianthe), and in the following months the relationship between Shelley and his wife deteriorated. Shelley resented the influence Harriet's sister had over her while Harriet was alienated from Shelley by his close friendship with an attractive widow, Mrs. Harriet de Boinville . Mrs. Boinville had married
1274-512: A further decline in Shelley's health and deepened Mary's depression. On 4 August she wrote: "We have now lived five years together; and if all the events of the five years were blotted out, I might be happy". Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over
1372-532: A half writing the book. The book begins with a quotation from Henry James, "Never say you know the last word about any human heart." A short preface (an anonymous editor suggests it was written in 1987) explains that the earliest pages have been lost, and recounts briefly Mountstuart's childhood in Montevideo , Uruguay , before he moves to England aged seven with his English father and Uruguayan mother. In his final term at school he and two friends set challenges. Logan
1470-404: A list of works attributed to Mountstuart. An additional stylistic feature is the anonymous editor (Boyd), who introduces the book and offers explanatory footnotes, cross-references and attempts at dating. Since a journal is written from the perspective of each day, Mountstuart's moods change as events affect him. The form lends itself to "plotlessness", since the author/narrator inevitably cannot see
1568-546: A loan of £3,000 but had left most of the funds at the disposal of Godwin and Harriet, who was again pregnant. The financial arrangement with Godwin led to rumours that he had sold his daughters to Shelley. Shelley, Mary and Claire made their way across war-ravaged France where Shelley wrote to Harriet, asking her to meet them in Switzerland with the money he had left for her. Hearing nothing from Harriet in Switzerland, and unable to secure sufficient funds or suitable accommodation,
1666-558: A long period of depression and emotional estrangement from Shelley. The Shelleys moved to Naples on 1 December, where they stayed for three months. During this period Shelley was ill, depressed and almost suicidal: a state of mind reflected in his poem "Stanzas written in Dejection – December 1818, Near Naples". While in Naples, Shelley registered the birth and baptism of a baby girl, Elena Adelaide Shelley (born 27 December), naming himself as
1764-468: A lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem." Shelley's reputation fluctuated during the 20th century, but since the 1960s he has achieved increasing critical acclaim for the sweeping momentum of his poetic imagery, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist, and materialist ideas in his work. Among his best-known works are " Ozymandias " (1818), " Ode to
1862-498: A magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews. Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "No consensus, with some very enthusiastic and some very disappointed". Richard Eder praised Any Human Heart in the New York Times : "William Boyd, is multifaceted and inventive, and he plays
1960-424: A memoir, the hoax biography of an invented artist, Nat Tate: An American Artist 1928-1960 , in which Mountstuart reappeared. Boyd claimed that he, as a biographer, had first heard of the painter through the work of a little-known British writer, a black-and-white photograph of whom Boyd had found in a French second-hand shop. The caption identified the chubby man as "Logan Mountstuart in 1952". Boyd described him as,
2058-413: A novel. It's selling fantastically well seven years on, and we're about to turn it into six hours of telly for Channel 4, so something about that novel gets to readers." On 15 April 2010, Channel 4 announced the making of a four-part television serial based on the novel. Boyd wrote the screenplay, with (successively) Sam Claflin , Matthew Macfadyen and Jim Broadbent playing Mountstuart as he ages. It
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#17328955846482156-748: A prolonged legal battle, the Court of Chancery eventually awarded custody of Shelley and Harriet's children to foster parents, on the grounds that Shelley had abandoned his first wife for Mary without cause and was an atheist. In March 1817 the Shelleys moved to the village of Marlow, Buckinghamshire , where Shelley's friend Thomas Love Peacock lived. The Shelley household included Claire and her baby Allegra, both of whose presence Mary resented. Shelley's generosity with money and increasing debts also led to financial and marital stress, as did Godwin's frequent requests for financial help. On 2 September Mary gave birth to
2254-539: A quantity of essays on political, social, and philosophical issues. Much of this poetry and prose was not published in his lifetime, or only published in expurgated form, due to the risk of prosecution for political and religious libel. From the 1820s, his poems and political and ethical writings became popular in Owenist , Chartist , and radical political circles, and later drew admirers as diverse as Karl Marx , Mahatma Gandhi , and George Bernard Shaw . Shelley's life
2352-452: A reputation as a classical scholar and a tolerated eccentric. In his last term at Eton, his first novel Zastrozzi appeared and he had established a following among his fellow pupils. Prior to enrolling for University College, Oxford , in October 1810, Shelley completed Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire (written with his sister Elizabeth), the verse melodrama The Wandering Jew and
2450-767: A salacious novel about prostitutes (which is poorly reviewed but sells well); and Les Cosmopolites , a respectable book on some obscure French poets . Mountstuart's mother loses the family wealth in the Wall Street Crash . He embarks on a series of amorous encounters: he loses his virginity to Tess, is rejected by Land Fothergill whom he met at Oxford, and marries Lottie, an Earl's daughter. They live together at Thorpe Hall in Norfolk, where Mountstuart, unstimulated by slow country life and his warm but dull wife, becomes idle. He meets Freya whilst on holiday, and begins an affair with her. Just before he departs for Barcelona to report on
2548-469: A scathing review of the Revolt of Islam (and its earlier version Laon and Cythna ) in the conservative Quarterly Review . Shelley was angered by the personal attack on him in the article which he erroneously believed had been written by Southey. His bitterness over the review lasted for the rest of his life. On 12 November, Mary gave birth to a boy, Percy Florence Shelley . Around the time of Percy's birth,
2646-432: A small village in the south of France, living in a house bequeathed to him by an old friend. He fits into the village well, introducing himself as an écrivain who is working on a novel called Octet . As he contemplates his past life after the deaths of Peter and Ben, his old school friends, he muses: That's all your life amounts to in the end: the aggregate of all the good luck and the bad luck you experience. Everything
2744-612: A speech at a meeting of O'Connell's Catholic Committee in which he called for Catholic emancipation , repeal of the Acts of Union and an end to the oppression of the Irish poor. Reports of Shelley's subversive activities were sent to the Home Secretary . Returning from Ireland, the Shelley household travelled to Wales, then Devon, where they again came under government surveillance for distributing subversive literature. Elizabeth Hitchener joined
2842-440: A traveller from an antique land, Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desart.... Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name
2940-787: Is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818 Shelley and Mary returned to England in September 1816, and in early October they heard that Mary's half-sister Fanny Imlay had killed herself. Godwin believed that Fanny had been in love with Shelley, and Shelley himself suffered depression and guilt over her death, writing: "Friend had I known thy secret grief / Should we have parted so." Further tragedy followed in December when Shelley's estranged wife Harriet drowned herself in
3038-547: Is a verse drama of rape, murder and incest based on the story of the Renaissance Count Cenci of Rome and his daughter Beatrice . Shelley completed the play in September and the first edition was published that year. It was to become one of his most popular works and the only one to have two authorised editions in his lifetime. Shelley's three-year-old son William died in June 1819, probably of malaria. The new tragedy caused
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3136-455: Is an autobiographical poem which explores the relationship between Shelley and Byron and analyses Shelley's personal crises of 1818 and 1819. The poem was completed in the summer of 1819, but was not published in Shelley's lifetime. Prometheus Unbound is a long dramatic poem inspired by Aeschylus's retelling of the Prometheus myth. It was completed in late 1819 and published in 1820. The Cenci
3234-402: Is explained by that simple formula. Tot it up – look at the respective piles. There's nothing you can do about it: nobody shares it out, allocates it to this one or that, it just happens. We must quietly suffer the laws of man's condition, as Montaigne says. Multiplicity of self is introduced early on as a theme, to capture a "more riotous and disorganised reality", and the use of the journal as
3332-502: Is possible that Mary, with Shelley's encouragement, was also having a sexual relationship with Hogg. In May Claire left the household, at Mary's insistence, to reside in Lynmouth. In August Shelley and Mary moved to Bishopsgate where Shelley worked on Alastor , a long poem in blank verse based on the myth of Narcissus and Echo . Alastor was published in an edition of 250 in early 1816 to poor sales and largely unfavourable reviews from
3430-506: Is sent to Portugal to monitor the Duke and Duchess of Windsor ; when they move to the Bahamas , Mountstuart follows, playing golf with the Duke and socialising regularly until the murder of Sir Harry Oakes . Mountstuart suspects the Duke is a conspirator after two hired detectives ask him to incriminate Oakes' son-in-law with false fingerprint evidence. Mountstuart refuses and is called a " Judas " by
3528-450: Is slowly acquired. Boyd has previously written about the 20th century through two characters: The New Confessions was a fictional memoir, and Nat Tate a spoof biography. In Any Human Heart , Boyd uses the journal form as a fresh angle from which to pursue the subject: "I wanted to invent my own exemplary figure who could seem almost as real as the real ones and whose life followed a similar pattern: boarding school, university, Paris in
3626-467: Is to get on to the school's first XV rugby team; Peter Scabius has to seduce Tess, a local farmer's daughter; and Ben Leeping, a lapsed Jew, has to convert to Roman Catholicism . Mountstuart enters Oxford on an exhibition and leaves with a third in History. Settling in London, he enjoys early success as a writer with The Mind's Imaginings , a critically successful biography of Shelley ; The Girl Factory ,
3724-633: The Lake District , leaving Hogg in York. For a year from June 1811, Shelley was also involved in an intense platonic relationship with Elizabeth Hitchener , a 28-year-old unmarried schoolteacher of advanced views, with whom he was corresponding frequently. Hitchener, whom Shelley called the "sister of my soul" and "my second self", became his confidante and intellectual companion as he developed his views on politics, religion, ethics and personal relationships. Shelley proposed that she join him, Harriet and Eliza in
3822-520: The Peterloo Massacre of peaceful protesters in Manchester. Within two weeks he had completed one of his most famous political poems, The Mask of Anarchy , and despatched it to Leigh Hunt for publication. Hunt, however, decided not to publish it for fear of prosecution for seditious libel. The poem was only officially published in 1832. The Shelleys moved to Florence in October, where Shelley read
3920-617: The Serpentine . Harriet, pregnant and living alone at the time, believed that she had been abandoned by her new lover. In her suicide letter she asked Shelley to take custody of their son Charles but to leave their daughter in her sister Eliza's care. Shelley married Mary Godwin on 30 December, despite his philosophical objections to the institution. The marriage was intended to help secure Shelley's custody of his children by Harriet and to placate Godwin who had refused to see Shelley and Mary because of their previous adulterous relationship. After
4018-727: The Spanish Civil War , Lottie unexpectedly visits his London flat and quickly realises another woman lives with him. On his return to England, following an acrimonious divorce, he marries Freya in Chelsea Town Hall . The newlyweds move to a house in Battersea where Freya gives birth to their daughter, Stella. During the Second World War , Mountstuart is recruited into the Naval Intelligence Division by Ian Fleming . He
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4116-408: The first person through a series of nine journaux intimes , kept by Mountstuart from age 17 until shortly before his death at 85. French literary journals, always published posthumously, are often extremely candid accounts, particularly of the author's sexual life. Boyd, himself a francophile, includes masturbation, prostitution and Mountstuart's three marriages. While Boyd had earlier written work in
4214-480: The 1960s, meeting artists like Willem de Kooning (whom he admires) and Jackson Pollock (whom he does not); he moves in with an American lawyer, Alannah, and her two young daughters. On his return to London, he has an affair with Gloria, Peter Scabius' third wife (Peter has become a successful author of popular novels), and in New York with Janet, a gallery owner. He eventually discovers Alannah having her own affair, and
4312-541: The 20s, the rise of Fascism, war, post-war neglect, disillusion, increasing decrepitude, and so on—a long, varied and rackety life that covered most of the century." Boyd sets Mountstuart's life within its context, tracing the grand arc of events during the 20th century by depicting Mountstuart as swept along in the flow of history - he serves in World War II, sees the cultural revolution in the 1950s and 60s, and takes advantage of modern transport in his extensive travels around
4410-664: The African journal, Mountstuart has become an English lecturer at the University College of Ikiri in Nigeria , from where he reports on the Biafran War . He retires to London on a paltry pension and, now an old man, he is knocked over by a speeding post office van. In hospital he brusquely refuses to turn to religion, swearing his atheism and humanism to a priest. He recovers but is now completely destitute. To boost his income and publicise
4508-619: The Duchess. Later in the war, Mountstuart is interned in Switzerland for two years. After the war's end, he is grieved to discover that Freya, thinking him dead, had remarried and then died, along with Stella, in a V-2 attack. Mountstuart's life collapses as he seeks refuge in an alcoholic daze to escape his depression. He buys 10b Turpentine Lane, a small basement flat in Pimlico . He returns to Paris to finish his existentialist novella, The Villa by
4606-548: The French Alps inspired " Mont Blanc ", which has been described as an atheistic response to Coleridge's "Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamoni". During this tour, Shelley often signed guest books with a declaration that he was an atheist. These declarations were seen by other British tourists, including Southey, which hardened attitudes against Shelley back home. Relations between Byron and Shelley's party became strained when Byron
4704-462: The Lake , staying with his old friend Ben Leeping (now a successful gallery owner). After a failed sexual encounter with Odile, a young French girl working at Ben's gallery, he attempts suicide but is surprised by the girl when she returns an hour later for her Zippo lighter . Ben offers Mountstuart a job as manager of his new gallery in New York, "Leeping fils". Mountstuart mildly prospers in the art scene of
4802-453: The Mountstuart character: "he is far more generous, forgiving, and free than most of us. He is also more amusing, and more amused by life", thus making an "attractive central character" and Boyd's writing showed "a great natural vitality and an increasingly sophisticated humanism." The Atlantic Monthly selected it as one of the "books of the year". In The Observer , Tim Adams complimented
4900-593: The People on the Death of Princess Charlotte (November 1817). In December he wrote "Ozymandias", which is considered to be one of his finest sonnets, as part of a competition with friend and fellow poet Horace Smith . On 12 March 1818 the Shelleys and Claire left England to escape its "tyranny civil and religious". A doctor had also recommended that Shelley go to Italy for his chronic lung complaint, and Shelley had arranged to take Claire's daughter, Allegra, to her father Byron who
4998-557: The Shelleys moved frequently across London, Wales, the Lake District , Scotland and Berkshire to escape creditors and search for a home. In March 1814, Shelley remarried Harriet in London to settle any doubts about the legality of their Edinburgh wedding and secure the rights of their child. Nevertheless, the Shelleys lived apart for most of the following months, and Shelley reflected bitterly on: "my rash & heartless union with Harriet". In May 1814, Shelley began visiting his mentor Godwin almost daily, and soon fell in love with Mary ,
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#17328955846485096-617: The West Wind " (1819), " To a Skylark " (1820), " Adonais " (1821), the philosophical essay " The Necessity of Atheism " (1811), which his friend T. J. Hogg may have co-authored, and the political ballad " The Mask of Anarchy " (1819). His other major works include the verse dramas The Cenci (1819), Prometheus Unbound (1820) and Hellas (1822), and the long narrative poems Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude (1815), Julian and Maddalo (1819), Adonais (1821), and The Triumph of Life (1822). Shelley also wrote prose fiction and
5194-493: The author's life: both Boyd and Mountstuart lived in Africa and France, studied at Oxford , worked in literary London and had a taste of New York. Boyd usually splits the creation of a novel into two phases: research and writing. The first phase of Any Human Heart took 30 months as he carefully plotted Mountstuart's life to be significant but seem random, a period during which he bought several hundred books. He spent another year and
5292-465: The birth and baptism on 27 February 1819, and the household left Naples for Rome the following day, leaving Elena with carers. Elena was to die in a poor suburb of Naples on 9 June 1820. In Rome, Shelley was in poor health, probably having developed nephritis and tuberculosis which later was in remission. Nevertheless, he made significant progress on three major works: Julian and Maddalo , Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci . Julian and Maddalo
5390-576: The bishops and heads of colleges at Oxford, and he was called to appear before the college's fellows, including the Dean, George Rowley . His refusal to answer questions put by college authorities regarding whether or not he authored the pamphlet resulted in his expulsion from Oxford on 25 March 1811, along with Hogg. Hearing of his son's expulsion, Shelley's father threatened to cut all contact with Shelley unless he agreed to return home and study under tutors appointed by him. Shelley's refusal to do so led to
5488-731: The bride and groom. (Shelley's father believed his son had married beneath him, as Harriet's father had earned his fortune in trade and was the owner of a tavern and coffee house.) Surviving on borrowed money, Shelley and Harriet stayed in Edinburgh for a month, with Hogg living under the same roof. The trio left for York in October, and Shelley went on to Sussex to settle matters with his father, leaving Harriet behind with Hogg. Shelley returned from his unsuccessful excursion to find that Eliza had moved in with Harriet and Hogg. Harriet confessed that Hogg had tried to seduce her while Shelley had been away. Shelley, Harriet and Eliza soon left for Keswick in
5586-486: The characterisation, calling Mountstuart "a man whose fragile egotism and loose-fitting story has you frequently forgetting you're reading fiction, and even more frequently forgetting you're reading at all." Giles Foden , in The Guardian , found the New York art-scene sections weakest, saying they "puncture the realism Boyd has so carefully built up in the rest of the novel." Michiko Kakutani agreed that Mountstuart's youth
5684-489: The conservative press. On 24 January 1816, Mary gave birth to William Shelley. Shelley was delighted to have another son, but was suffering from the strain of prolonged financial negotiations with his father, Harriet and William Godwin. Shelley showed signs of delusional behaviour and was contemplating an escape to the continent. Claire initiated a sexual relationship with Lord Byron in April 1816, just before his self-exile on
5782-545: The continent, and then arranged for Byron to meet Shelley, Mary, and her in Geneva. Shelley admired Byron's poetry and had sent him Queen Mab and other poems. Shelley's party arrived in Geneva in May and rented a house close to Villa Diodati , on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Byron was staying. There Shelley, Byron and the others engaged in discussions about literature, science and "various philosophical doctrines". One night, while Byron
5880-458: The couple split. He reconciles with his son from his first marriage, Lionel, who has moved to New York to manage a pop group, until Lionel's sudden death. Monday, Lionel's girlfriend, moves into Mountstuart's flat; at first friends, they become intimates until her father turns up and Mountstuart discovers – to his horror – that she is 16 (having told him she was 19). His lawyer advises him to leave America to avoid prosecution for statutory rape . In
5978-444: The diary form to explore how public events impinge on individual consciousness, so that Mountstuart's journal alludes almost casually to the war, the death of a prime minister, or the abdication of the king. Boyd plays ironically on the theme of literary celebrity, introducing his protagonist to several real writers who are included as characters. The journal style of the novel, with its gaps, false starts and contradictions, reinforces
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#17328955846486076-443: The estate, and a financial settlement between Shelley and his father (now Sir Timothy), however, was not concluded until April the following year. In February 1815, Mary gave premature birth to a baby girl who died ten days later, deepening her depression. In the following weeks, Mary became close to Hogg who temporarily moved into the household. Shelley was almost certainly having a sexual relationship with Claire at this time, and it
6174-425: The father and falsely naming Mary as the mother. The parentage of Elena has never been conclusively established. Biographers have variously speculated that she was adopted by Shelley to console Mary for the loss of Clara, that she was Shelley's child by Claire, that she was his child by his servant Elise Foggi, or that she was the child of a "mysterious lady" who had followed Shelley to the continent. Shelley registered
6272-490: The form of memoir or biography, a journal is different: "For a start, it's written without the benefit of hindsight, so there isn't the same feeling you get when you look back and add shape to a life. There are huge chunks missing." The novel's grounding in everyday life and focus on characterisation place it firmly within realism . Each journal covers a different period of Mountstuart's life, and they are usually geographically named: The School Journal, London I, etc. Boyd varied
6370-468: The gothic novel St. Irvine; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance (published 1811). At Oxford Shelley attended few lectures, instead spending long hours reading and conducting scientific experiments in the laboratory he set up in his room. He met a fellow student, Thomas Jefferson Hogg , who became his closest friend. Shelley became increasingly politicised under Hogg's influence, developing strong radical and anti-Christian views. Such views were dangerous in
6468-463: The historical significance of a novel's plot, Mountstuart's encounters with them are superficial, leaving only an impression of both parties' small-mindedness. John Mullan found the conceit most effective during the New York journal, where Boyd satirises figures in the Abstract Expressionist movement during the 1950s "whose characters seem almost beyond invention." The novel is narrated in
6566-541: The household in Devon, but several months later had a falling out with the Shelleys and left. The Shelley household had settled in Tremadog , Wales, in September 1812, where Shelley worked on Queen Mab , a utopian allegory with extensive notes preaching atheism, free love, republicanism and vegetarianism. The poem was published the following year in a private edition of 250 copies, although few were initially distributed because of
6664-568: The months following his expulsion, when he was under severe emotional strain due to the conflict with his family, his bitterness over the breakdown of his romance with his cousin Harriet Grove, and his unfounded belief that he might have a fatal illness. At the same time, Harriet Westbrook's elder sister Eliza, to whom Harriet was very close, encouraged the young girl's romance with Shelley. Shelley's correspondence with Harriet intensified in July, while he
6762-548: The narrator's tone in each to demonstrate changes in Mountstuart's character. In the first London Journal he is, according to Boyd, a "modernist aesthete", becoming a "world-weary cynic" in New York and finding "serene and elegiac serenity" in the final French journal. To support the book's historical themes and documentary premise, there is a feigned editorial apparatus: an index listing real people and their relation to Mountstuart alongside fictional characters, an editor's introduction (by Boyd), an authorial preface (by Mountstuart) and
6860-671: The nickname "Mad Shelley". His interest in the occult and science continued, and contemporaries describe him giving an electric shock to a master, blowing up a tree stump with gunpowder and attempting to raise spirits with occult rituals. In his senior years, Shelley came under the influence of a part-time teacher, James Lind , who encouraged his interest in the occult and introduced him to liberal and radical authors. Shelley also developed an interest in Plato and idealist philosophy which he pursued in later years through self-study. According to Richard Holmes , Shelley, by his leaving year, had gained
6958-516: The novel's literary form is explicitly pointed to as developing this theme: "We keep a journal to entrap the collection of selves that forms us, the individual human being" the narrator explains. In an article in The Guardian , Boyd confirmed "this thesis that we are an anthology, a composite of many selves" is a theme of the book. While man's fundamental nature remains the same, he moves in and out of happiness, love and good health. Wisdom, as with age,
7056-608: The opening sections as "nicely layered with the pretensions of a particular precocious kind of student" but criticised the "predictability" of Mountstuart's "walk-on part in literary history" and ultimately the suspension of disbelief , particularly the Baader-Meinhoff passages, concluding "For all the incident, for all the change he witnesses, Mountstuart never really feels like a credible witness either to history or emotion." Tom Cox in The Daily Telegraph disagreed: he praised
7154-448: The overall structure of the story. Plot lines which "fizzle and fade" emphasise the theme of multiple selves throughout life. Boyd adds other aspects to the work, such as parenthetical musings that are never answered, to re-enforce the style. His tone of voice gradually changes as he ages: Boyd wanted the style to reflect the major theme that we change and grow throughout life: "I wanted the literary tone of each journal to reflect this and so
7252-522: The reactionary political climate prevailing during Britain's war with Napoleonic France, and Shelley's father warned him against Hogg's influence. In the winter of 1810–1811, Shelley published a series of anonymous political poems and tracts: Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson , The Necessity of Atheism (written in collaboration with Hogg) and A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things . Shelley mailed The Necessity of Atheism to all
7350-485: The reinstatement of Shelley's allowance. With Harriet's allowance also restored, Shelley now had the funds for his Irish venture. Their departure for Ireland was precipitated by increasing hostility towards the Shelley household from their landlord and neighbours who were alarmed by Shelley's scientific experiments, pistol shooting and radical political views. As tension mounted, Shelley claimed he had been attacked in his home by ruffians, an event which might have been real or
7448-512: The risk of prosecution for seditious and religious libel. In February 1813, Shelley claimed he was attacked in his home at night. The incident might have been real, a hallucination brought on by stress, or a hoax staged by Shelley in order to escape government surveillance, creditors and his entanglements in local politics. The Shelleys and Eliza fled to Ireland, then London. Back in England, Shelley's debts mounted as he tried unsuccessfully to reach
7546-419: The same essential subject, the human condition, the change in medium justified his writing again of a whole-life view: "I don't think there's anything wrong with going back over territory you've previously covered." Though avowedly not an (auto-)biographical novelist, Boyd acknowledged that personal experiences often subconsciously affect a writer's fiction. As in several of Boyd's novels there are parallels with
7644-527: The sixteen-year-old daughter of Godwin and the late feminist author Mary Wollstonecraft . Shelley and Mary declared their love for each other during a visit to her mother's grave in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church on 26 June. When Shelley told Godwin that he intended to leave Harriet and live with Mary, his mentor banished him from the house and forbade Mary from seeing him. Shelley and Mary eloped to Europe on 28 July, taking Mary's step-sister Claire Clairmont with them. Before leaving, Shelley had secured
7742-586: The state of hospitals, he joins the Socialist Patients' Kollective (SPK), which turns out to be a cell of the Baader-Meinhof Gang . He becomes the SPK's prize newspaper seller and is sent on a special mission to the continent. The trip ends with a brief interrogation by Special Branch, after which Mountstuart returns to his life of penury in London. With a new appreciation of life, he sells his flat and moves to
7840-556: The theme of the changing self in the novel. Many plot points simply fade away. The novel received mixed reviews from critics on publication, but has sold well. A television adaptation was made with the screenplay written by Boyd, first broadcast in 2010. Mountstuart appeared in Boyd's short story "Hôtel des Voyageurs" written in the early 1990s and published in London Magazine and his 1995 collection The Destiny of Nathalie 'X' . The story
7938-523: The three travelled to Germany and Holland before returning to England on 13 September. Shelley spent the next few months trying to raise loans and avoid bailiffs. Mary was pregnant, lonely, depressed and ill. Her mood was not improved when she heard that, on 30 November, Harriet had given birth to Charles Bysshe Shelley, heir to the Shelley fortune and baronetcy. This was followed, in early January 1815, by news that Shelley's grandfather, Sir Bysshe , had died leaving an estate worth £220,000. The settlement of
8036-485: The universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened Earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? From "Ode to the West Wind", 1819 The Shelleys were now living in Livorno where, in September, Shelley heard of
8134-411: The voice subtly changes as you read on: from pretentious school boy to modern young decadent, to bitter realist to drink soaked cynic, to sage and serene octogenarian, and so forth." Upon release, Any Human Heart received polarizing reviews. The Guardian gave the novel an average rating of 8.3 out of 10 based on reviews from multiple British newspapers. On Bookmarks Magazine May/June 2003 issue,
8232-469: The world. Rather than being re-told in hindsight, their importance in context, historical events are seen through the petty lens of every-day living. For example, in an entry from the 1920s, Mountstuart notes "Coffee with Land Fothergill at the Cadena . She was wearing a velvet coat that matched her eyes. We talked a little stiffly about Mussolini and Italy and I was embarrassed to note how much better informed she
8330-565: Was Laon and Cythna , a long narrative poem featuring incest and attacks on religion. It was hastily withdrawn after publication due to fears of prosecution for religious libel, and was re-edited and reissued as The Revolt of Islam in January 1818. Shelley also published two political tracts under a pseudonym: A Proposal for putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom (March 1817) and An Address to
8428-533: Was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets . A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning , Algernon Charles Swinburne , Thomas Hardy , and W. B. Yeats . American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman,
8526-608: Was broadcast from 21 November to 12 December 2010. The drama was broadcast in re-edited form as three one-and-a-half-hour episodes on 13, 20 and 27 February 2011 in the United States on PBS as part of the Masterpiece Classic program. 2002 in literature This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2002 . Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( / b ɪ ʃ / BISH ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822)
8624-523: Was bullied and unhappy at the school and sometimes responded with violent rage. He also began suffering from the nightmares, hallucinations and sleep walking that were to periodically affect him throughout his life. Shelley developed an interest in science which supplemented his voracious reading of tales of mystery, romance and the supernatural. During his holidays at Field Place, his sisters were often terrified at being subjected to his experiments with gunpowder , acids and electricity. Back at school he blew up
8722-462: Was holidaying in Wales, and in response to her urgent pleas for his protection, he returned to London in early August. Putting aside his philosophical objections to matrimony, he left with the sixteen-year-old Harriet for Edinburgh on 25 August 1811, and they were married there on the 28th. Hearing of the elopement, Harriet's father, John Westbrook, and Shelley's father, Timothy, cut off the allowances of
8820-499: Was inspired by the journals written by writer and critic Cyril Connolly in the 1920s. It was written in journal form and was, like Connolly's journals self obsessed, lyrical and hedonistic. As a schoolboy, Boyd was obsessed with Connolly, avidly reading his reviews in The Sunday Times , and later read his entire published œuvre and found his flawed personality 'deeply beguiling'. In 1988 Boyd had written The New Confessions as
8918-501: Was marked by family crises, ill health, and a backlash against his atheism , political views, and defiance of social conventions. He went into permanent self-exile in Italy in 1818 and over the next four years produced what Zachary Leader and Michael O'Neill call "some of the finest poetry of the Romantic period". His second wife, Mary Shelley , was the author of Frankenstein . He died in
9016-528: Was now in Venice. After travelling some months through France and Italy, Shelley left Mary and baby Clara at Bagni di Lucca (in today's Tuscany) while he travelled with Claire to Venice to see Byron and make arrangements for visiting Allegra. Byron invited the Shelleys to stay at his summer residence at Este , and Shelley urged Mary to meet him there. Clara became seriously ill on the journey and died on 24 September in Venice. Following Clara's death, Mary fell into
9114-417: Was reciting Coleridge's Christabel , Shelley suffered a severe panic attack with hallucinations. The previous night Mary had had a more productive vision or nightmare which inspired her novel Frankenstein . Shelley and Byron then took a boating tour around Lake Geneva, which inspired Shelley to write his " Hymn to Intellectual Beauty ", his first substantial poem since Alastor . A tour of Chamonix in
9212-522: Was sheltered and mostly happy. He was particularly close to his sisters and his mother, who encouraged him to hunt, fish and ride. At age six, he was sent to a day school run by the vicar of Warnham church, where he displayed an impressive memory and gift for languages . In 1802 he entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford , Middlesex , where his cousin Thomas Medwin was a pupil. Shelley
9310-465: Was still alive. Shelley wrote to Godwin, offering himself as his devoted disciple. Godwin, who had modified many of his earlier radical views, advised Shelley to reconcile with his father, become a scholar before he published anything else, and give up his avowed plans for political agitation in Ireland. Meanwhile, Shelley had met his father's patron, Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk , who helped secure
9408-661: Was than I." Boyd said he was partially inspired by the generation of English writers who matured between the wars: "I am fascinated by the life and work of that generation of English writers who were born at the beginning of the century and reached maturity by the time of World War II. People like Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene and Anthony Powell , obviously, but also less well known writers— Henry Green , Lawrence Durrell , Cyril Connolly and William Gerhardie . The last two in particular lurk closely behind Logan." Both real and imagined characters are blended into this context, where historical personages are typically used to concentrate
9506-399: Was told that Claire was pregnant with his child. Shelley, Mary, and Claire left Switzerland in late August, with arrangements for the expected baby still unclear, although Shelley made provision for Claire and the baby in his will. In January 1817 Claire gave birth to a daughter by Byron who she named Alba, but later renamed Allegra in accordance with Byron's wishes. Ozymandias I met
9604-656: Was well evoked, but that the description of his retirement and poverty was "as carefully observed and emotionally resonant". While in the early part of the book "the characters' marionette strings [are] carefully hidden", later Boyd tried to play God, resulting in "an increasingly contrived narrative that begins to strain our credulity." Boyd spends his summers in the south of France and has a large readership in France. Several French newspapers favourably reviewed Any Human Heart , published in France in 2002 as "A livre ouvert: Les carnets intimes de Logan Mountstuart. L'express called Boyd
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