Fantasy, Forgery, and the Byron Legend - Hardcover

Soderholm, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813119391 ISBN 13: 9780813119397

Publisher: University Press of Kentucky, 1995

Synopsis

Byron was -- to echo Wordsworth -- half-perceived and half-created. He would have affirmed Jean Baudrillard's observation that "to seduce is to die to reality and reconstitute oneself as illusion." But among the readers he seduced, in person and in poetry, were women possessed of vivid imaginations who collaborated with him in fashioning his legend. Accused of "treating women harshly," Byron acknowledged: "It may be so -- but I have been their martyr. My whole life has been sacrificed to them and by them." Those whom he spell bound often returned the favor in their own writings tried to remake his public image to reflect their own. Through writings both well known and generally unknown, James Soderholm examines the poet's relationship with five women: Elizabeth Pigot, Caroline Lamb, Annabella Milbanke, Teresa Guiccioli, and Marguerite Blessington. These women participated in Byron's life and literary career and the manipulation of images that is the Byron legend. Soderholm argues against the sentimental depictions of biographers who would preserve Byron's romantic aura by diminishing the contributions of these women to his social, sexual, and literary identity. By restoring the contexts in which literary works charm or bedevil particular readers, the author shows the consequences of Byron's poetic seductions during and after his life.

About this title

About the Author

James Soderholm is assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

From the Back Cover

Byron was - to echo Wordsworth - half-perceived and half-created. He would have affirmed Jean Baudrillard's observation that "to seduce is to die to reality and reconstitute oneself as illusion". But among the readers he seduced, in person and in poetry, were women possessed of vivid imaginations who collaborated with him in fashioning his legend. Accused of "treating women harshly", Byron acknowledged: "It may be so - but I have been their martyr. My whole life has been sacrificed to them and by them". Those whom he spellbound often returned the favor and in their own writings tried to remake his public image to reflect their own. Through writings both well known and generally unknown, Soderholm examines the poet's relationship with five women: Elizabeth Pigot, Caroline Lamb, Annabella Milbanke, Teresa Guiccioli, and Marguerite Blessington. These women participated in Byron's life and literary career and the manipulation of images that is the Byron legend. Soderholm argues against the sentimental depictions of biographers who would preserve Byron's romantic aura by diminishing the contributions of these women to his social, sexual, and literary identity. By restoring the contexts in which literary works charm or bedevil particular readers, the author shows the consequences of Byron's poetic seductions during and after his life.

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0813119391
• ISBN 13: 9780813119397
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224