Forger's Shadow by Nick Groom
Whilst defining the very meaning of forgery, Nick Groom ranges from the economic forgery of the 18th century, where the forgery of a #100 banknote could mean death by hanging, to the formation of literary copyright which was established not in order to protect the nation's authors, but rather as a way of censoring them. At the centre of Groom's book are the figures of literary forgery that have haunted both our literature and our imaginations for years. There is Chatterton: the fatal model for the Romantic perceived as a mad, unrecognized, and suicidal genius but one whose supposedly tragic life was as much myth as the 15th century monk he invented. Or there is Macpherson: constantly at war with Samuel Johnson who edited (or wrote, or indeed forged) the lost epics of a third-century Celtic bard; there is the forger William Henry Ireland who not only wrote two new and disastrous Shakespeare plays but also forged a legal document to make sure he benefited from the royalties; and finally there is the famous Wainewright who was a supreme forger in practically every sphere whose effect on literature from Dickens to Wilde to the early 21st century cannot be underestimated.
Nick Groom is Senior Lecturer in Post-Mediaeval Literature at the University of Bristol. He took a double first in English at Oxford, worked unsuccessfully as a rock musician, wrote a doctoral thesis on eighteenth-century ballads and since then has published widely on literature, music and contemporary art in both academic and popular publications. He lives on Dartmoor and in North London.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780330374323 |
| ISBN 10 | 033037432X |
| Title | Forger's Shadow |
| Author | Nick Groom |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Pan Macmillan |
| Year published | 2002-04-12 |
| Number of pages | 352 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |