The Cenci’s Celebrity

Abstract

The image of Shelley as a poet unconcerned with contemporary fame maintains a remarkable tenacity, such that his popular image might still be summed up by the description of him in Edward Trelawny’s 1878 Records of Shelley, Byron and the Author: “Whilst he lived, his works fell still-born from the press; he never complained of the world’s neglect, or expressed any other feeling than surprise at the rancorous abuse wasted on an author who had no readers.” Trelawny’s description in essence, of course, describes a claim to celebrity—a celebrity Shelley maintains despite, or even because of, his lack of readers, and a celebrity Trelawny hoped would sell copies of his memoir. Trelawny indeed continues his account of Shelley’s indifference to fame by quoting a telling conversation with the poet: “‘But for the reviewers,’ he said, laughing, ‘I should be entirely unknown.’ ‘But for them,’ I observed, ‘Williams and I would never have crossed the Alps in chase of you. Our curiosity as sportsmen was excited to see and have a shot at so strange a monster as they represented you to be.’”¹