Selected Writings

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) developed a variety of identities as a writer - essayist, philosopher, critic of literature, drama and painting, biographer, political commentator and polemicist. What unites this variety is his dramatic and passionate intelligence, his commitment to individual and political liberty, and his opposition to established political and cultural power. Hailed in 1819 as "one of the ablest and most eloquent critics of our nation", Hazlitt was also reviled for his political radicalism by the conservative press of the period. His writing engages with many of the important cultural and political debates of a revolutionary period, and retains its power both to provoke and move the reader. This edition contains some well-known essays, such as "The Indian Jugglers" and "The Fight", but also some lesser known writings on politics, philisophy and culture. It should interest students of the Romantic period and of English culture in the Regency period, students of the history of English radicalism, academics and readers of English prose.