Muse connects and complicates gender and the role of the artist through a modern reinterpretation of the tragic figure of Elizabeth Siddal. As a model, then pupil, she married the Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and although an artist and poet in her own right, Siddal is best known as a Victorian muse and the inspiration for her husband's paintings. In sensual and evocative language, Kresan holds nothing back, shifting voices and perspectives, and encompassing a wide range of emotions- from Siddal's loss and heartbreak over her stillborn daughter to the poet's lighthearted reproach of Hunt's depiction of The Lady of Shalott.
This 2018 second edition of Kresan's compelling and inventive debut will surely increase its already popular standing among lovers of poetry, Pre- Raphelite art, and Victorian history. Through its skilled use of language, in both form and content, Muse conveys emotional depth and compassion, off-set by irreverant humour and wicked satire.
