Representing Leigh Hunt’s Autobiography

Abstract

In his biography of Leigh Hunt, Anthony Holden asserts, “Alongside Wordsworth, who largely eschewed literary London, Hunt’s was the longest nineteenth-century literary life, with the widest circle of acquaintance and as large a claim as any to the shaping of literary opinion” (2). In my earlier monograph, Leigh Hunt and the London Literary Scene, I illustrated the kinds of change that Hunt’s reputation went through over a 30-year timespan. That study attempted to elaborate the problematic of his position within the London literary and political scene between the years 1805 and 1828, the contributions he made to British literature and journalism, and his public standing at the end of the romantic period. Since Hunt’s life is obviously too complex to be rendered fully in any single study, the idea was not to attempt an exhaustive history, but rather to present a starting point for further inquiry into Hunt’s career as a writer and public figure under the reign of Queen Victoria.