Lionel Johnson: Selected Poetry and Prose
Edited by Sarah Green
Booksellers & libraries: | Modern Humanities Research Association
ISBN: 978-1-781889-77-0 (hardback) • RRP £34.99, $48.99, €41.99 ISBN: 978-1-781889-78-7 (paperback) • RRP £14.99, $19.99, €17.99 ISBN: 978-1-781889-79-4 (JSTOR ebook) Lionel Johnson was one of the foremost poets and critics of the 1890s. He was a founding member of The Rhymers’ Club, an early contributor to The Yellow Book, and a close friend of major writers of the period, including Walter Pater, W. B. Yeats and Ernest Dowson. His prose and poetry were scholarly and formal, as well as often passionate and entertaining. As a critic he believed that moral and artistic values were one and the same, and he was highly sought-after as a reviewer. This new volume presents a representative selection of Johnson’s poetry and prose alongside a critical introduction and explanatory notes. The principle of selection will not follow the Yeatsian interpretation of Johnson as tragic alcoholic genius. Instead, the selection will seek to represent the many facets and influences in the oeuvre of a complex writer. It will particularly aim to enable readers to engage with Johnson’s difficult and often contradictory relationship with the Decadent Movement, in which his praise of certain Decadent writers (Verlaine, Pater, Crackanthorpe) and his own exploration of Decadent themes sits alongside often virulent condemnation of what may be recognized as Decadent values. Bibliography entry: Green, Sarah (ed.), Lionel Johnson: Selected Poetry and Prose, Jewelled Tortoise, 9 (MHRA, 2025) First footnote reference: 35 Lionel Johnson: Selected Poetry and Prose, ed. by Sarah Green, Jewelled Tortoise, 9 (MHRA, 2025), p. 21. Subsequent footnote reference: 37 Green, p. 47. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) Bibliography entry: Green, Sarah (ed.). 2025. Lionel Johnson: Selected Poetry and Prose, Jewelled Tortoise, 9 (MHRA) Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Green 2025: 21). Example footnote reference: 35 Green 2025: 21. (To see how these citations were worked out, follow this link.) Permanent link to this title: www.mhra.org.uk/publications/Lionel-Johnson-Selected-Poetry-Prose www.mhra.org.uk/publications/jt-9 |
Autumn 2025