Of characters, notes and names
Though hundreds of years have passed, writers’ early manuscripts breathe life into literary classics even as they bear witness to the passage of time. Some of the highlights of the ongoing exhibition Shakespeare to Sherlock: Treasures of the British Library :
Don Juan
George Gordon Byron 1822 The limping poet successfully turns Don Juan from a seducer to someone who falls in love in his 16,000-line, unfinished poem. “He turns the story (original play plot) upside-down and he surprises us,” says Alexandra Ault, curator of the exhibition.
Byron’s manuscripts are on different-sized sheets of paper, and we can actually see him making changes and crossing out lines. The paper shows traces of being folded, indicating how Byron carried them with him and wrote using what was available to him.
“The folds reveal the artistic process of the poet,” says Ault.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1806 Coleridge’s famous poem lays the foundation for the Romantic Movement, which is characterized by a focus on nature and the sublime, with highs and lows of feeling, and the supernatural.
He preferred to write in a handy notebook. The British Library holds 55 of the 72 Coleridge notebooks in existence.
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte 1847 A widely read novel in China, Ault says the work is generally considered to be the first example of the modern novel, because of its characterization and narrative.
“There is so much depth in terms of the object, the story and the author,” she says.
On show at the National Library of China is a fair copy of the book.
“It’s the copy that was sent to Bronte’s publisher and finally launched her career, and it thus changed the way British read and understand novels,” says Ault.
Printers’ fingerprints are visible, as well as Bronte’s pen name, Currer Bell, which is crossed out. “Bronte felt that the male pseudonym would give her novels more credibility,” the display’s notes say, revealing the limited social status of women writers at the time.