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All Access Book Discussion Group

With Susan Wolfson and Piper Winkler

Professor Susan Wolfson and graduate student Piper Winkler discuss how a copy of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s pamphlet, "The Necessity of Atheism," came to Princeton University and their related research.

Among the treasures in Princeton University Library’s Rare Books and special collections is a copy of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s provocative pamphlet,  "The Necessity of Atheism" (1811), the surreptitious publication of which resulted in the poet’s expulsion from Oxford University and the pamphlet’s near complete suppression—only six copies are known to survive.

Wolfson and Winkler present the story of how a copy of this controversial pamphlet came to Princeton University as well as their research—published this fall as “Covering The Necessity of Atheism” in "Essays in Criticism" and a forthcoming companion article in the Princeton University Library Bulletin—on the five other copies, including the only other copy in the Western Hemisphere, at the University of Texas, where the state legislature investigated the use of public funds for its purchase.

Related texts from the “Romantic” era in England, such as Shelley’s “Queen Mab” (1813) and “The Mask of Anarchy” (1819) or Byron’s “Fugitive Pieces,”  that have been pressured into obscurity and have re-emerged to controversy, will also be discussed.

Presented with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

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