Byron in Context

Illuminates the multiple contexts in which the life, works and reception of Lord Byron (1788–1824) are understood.

Clara Tuite (Edited by)

9781107181465, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 December 2019

514 pages
23.5 x 16.1 x 2.1 cm, 0.73 kg

'Ultimately, though, Callaghan has hit upon an interesting point of convergence between Byron and Shelley with her discussion of the poet-hero. She is a great reader of poetry, and I learned a lot from her analyses of specific stanzas and lines in both Byron's and Shelley's works.' Alexander Grammatikos, European Romantic Review

George Gordon, the sixth Lord Byron (1788–1824), was one of the most celebrated poets of the Romantic period, as well as a peer, politician and global celebrity, famed not only for his verse, but for his controversial lifestyle and involvement in the Greek War of Independence. In thirty-seven concise, accessible essays, by leading international scholars, this volume explores the social and intertextual relationships that informed Byron's writing; the geopolitical contexts in which he travelled, lived and worked; the cultural and philosophical movements that influenced changing outlooks on religion, science, modern society and sexuality; the dramatic landscape of war, conflict and upheaval that shaped Napoleonic and post-Napoleonic Europe and Regency Britain; and the diverse cultures of reception that mark the ongoing Byron phenomenon as a living ecology in the twenty-first century. This volume illuminates how we might think of Byron in context, but also as a context in his own right.

Part I. Life and Works: 1. Early years Jonathan Gross
2. The years of fame Diego Saglia
3. Exile Jane Stabler
4. Texts and editions Tom Mole
5. Byron and his publishers Mary O'Connell
6. Piracies, fakes and forgeries Gary Dyer
Part II. Political, Social and Intellectual Transformations: 7. Politics John Beckett
8. War Neil Ramsey
9. Greece's Byron Spiridoula Demetriou
10. Byron's Italy Timothy Webb
11. Orientalism Gerard Cohen-Vrignaud
12. Religion Christine Kenyon Jones
13. Natural philosophy Thomas H. Ford
14. Sexuality Richard C. Sha
15. Libertinism Adam Komisaruk
16. Fashion, self-fashioning and the body Laura J. George
Part III. Literary Cultures: 17. Classicism and neoclassicism Bernard Beatty
18. Epic (and historiography) Carla Pomarè
19. Romance Omar F. Miranda
20. Byron's lyric practice Anna Camilleri
21. Satire Mark Canuel
22. The Satanic School Mirka Horová
23. The Lake Poets Madeleine Callaghan
24. Byron's accidental muse: Robert Southey Susan J. Wolfson
25. 'Benign ceruleans of the second sex!': Byron and the Bluestockings Caroline Franklin
26. The Pisan Circle and the Cockney School Maria Schoina
27. Drama and theatre Rolf P. Lessenich
28. Autobiography Alan Rawes
29. 'Literatoor', literary theory and critical practice Clara Tuite
30. Periodical culture, the literary review and the mass media Andrew Franta
Part IV. Reception and Afterlives: 31. Contemporary critical reception to 1824 William Christie
32. Byron, radicals and reformers Jason Goldsmith
33. European reception Peter Vassallo
34. Recollections, conversations and biographies Julian North
35. Posthumous reception and re-invention to 1900 Eric Eisner
36. Popular culture Lindsey Eckert
37. Byron now Ghislaine McDayter.

Subject Areas: Literary reference works [DSR], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literary studies: general [DSB]