Byron's War
Romantic Rebellion, Greek Revolution

This fresh perspective on Byron's relationship with Greece throws new light on its importance both for Byron and for Greece.

Roderick Beaton (Author)

9781107470385, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 October 2014

356 pages, 13 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.7 x 15.1 x 1.7 cm, 0.6 kg

'… occasionally a new book comes along that shakes the kaleidoscope and allows us to see him and parts of his life in a new way. Roderick Beaton's book is one such … it is the merit of the book that it raises big questions that will be argued over, and changes the terms on which they will be approached.' The Anglo-Hellenic Review

Roderick Beaton re-examines Lord Byron's life and writing through the long trajectory of his relationship with Greece. Beginning with the poet's youthful travels in 1809–1811, Beaton traces his years of fame in London and self-imposed exile in Italy, that culminated in the decision to devote himself to the cause of Greek independence. Then comes Byron's dramatic self-transformation, while in Cephalonia, from Romantic rebel to 'new statesman', subordinating himself for the first time to a defined, political cause, in order to begin laying the foundations, during his 'hundred days' at Missolonghi, for a new kind of polity in Europe – that of the nation-state as we know it today. Byron's War draws extensively on Greek historical sources and other unpublished documents to tell an individual story that also offers a new understanding of the significance that Greece had for Byron, and of Byron's contribution to the origin of the present-day Greek state.

Prologue
Part I. The Rebel Imagination (1809–1816): 1. Land of lost gods …
2. … and modern monsters
Part II. The Road to Revolution (1816–1823): 3. Reluctant Radical
4. 'Prophet of a noble contest'
5. Death by water, transfiguration by fire
6. The deformed transformed
Part III. Greece: 'Tis the Cause Makes All' (July–December 1823): 7. Preparations for battle
8. Wavering
9. The new statesman
Part IV. Missolonghi: The Hundred Days (January–April 1824): 10. 'Political economy'
11. Confronting the warlords
12. Pyrrhic victory
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800 [DSBD], Literary theory [DSA]