Lord Byron's Strength: Romantic Writing and Commercial SocietyAccording to Jerome Christensen, literary histories of British Romanticism have dealt inadequately with Byron's "lordship" - his singularity as a phenomenal literary success and as the last and greatest aristocratic poet in the language. At first, Byron does not want a poetic career. Then, entrapped by his extraordinary success, he gets one. And once Byron has a career, he ruins it - not by his unsavory sexual practices and political grandstanding but by publishing his greatest poem. The first extended study of the career and persona of the most celebrated poet of the nineteenth century, Lord Byron's Strength draws on contemporary literary, political, and social theory not only to revise our understanding of Byron but also to reexamine the romanticism of Coleridge, Wordsworth, Scott, Hazlitt, and Shelley. Christensen argues that the literary system that became "Byronism" was a complicated contrivance engineered by the poet - in collaboration with his publisher, friends, reviewers, and readers - for the greater glory of a United Kingdom triumphant in the war with Napoleon. Wellington may have won on the battlefield, but the real victory for Great Britain would depend on its ability to symbolize itself in a way that would overcome foreign resistance without force of arms - that would turn enemies into consumers. Christensen contends that Byron was the predominant vehicle for that strategy. British commercial society would benefit extravagantly from the international success of Childe Harold and the glamour and appeal of its author. But Byronism was a project that - in Don Juan, his greatest poem - Byron would reject. Lord Byron's Strength is an account of the packaging and sale of Byron, the poet's increasing resistance to the constraints of Byronism, and his eventual break with the commercial society that had made him its symbol. |
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Page 227
... review as the condition of praising an author ; and yet the miserable man ... who has given birth to this pestilent poem , has not scrupled to lay this to the charge of " The British Review . ' " The reviewer / editor / defendant ...
... review as the condition of praising an author ; and yet the miserable man ... who has given birth to this pestilent poem , has not scrupled to lay this to the charge of " The British Review . ' " The reviewer / editor / defendant ...
Page 382
... review from the Quarterly Review , issued in September 1818 ; quoted in Byron : The Critical Heritage , ed . Andrew Rutherford ( New York : Barnes and Noble , 1970 ) , p . 140. Cf. the Antijacobin on The Giaour , which is perhaps even ...
... review from the Quarterly Review , issued in September 1818 ; quoted in Byron : The Critical Heritage , ed . Andrew Rutherford ( New York : Barnes and Noble , 1970 ) , p . 140. Cf. the Antijacobin on The Giaour , which is perhaps even ...
Page 420
... review of Don Juan , 216 , 217 , 220-26 , 229 British Review , The , 83 , 310 ; review of Don Juan , 226-33 , 234 , 405 n.30 ; review of The Bride of Abydos , 387 n.50 Brougham , Henry , 84 , 137 , 139 , 239 , 333 , 370 nn.54 , 55 , 382 ...
... review of Don Juan , 216 , 217 , 220-26 , 229 British Review , The , 83 , 310 ; review of Don Juan , 226-33 , 234 , 405 n.30 ; review of The Bride of Abydos , 387 n.50 Brougham , Henry , 84 , 137 , 139 , 239 , 333 , 370 nn.54 , 55 , 382 ...
Contents
The Performance of Lordship | 3 |
An English Bard Scotch Reviewers | 32 |
Childe | 49 |
Copyright | |
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Lord Byron's Strength: Romantic Writing and Commercial Society Jerome Christensen Limited preview - 1993 |
Common terms and phrases
appears aristocratic become Biographia Literaria blood body British Brougham called Cambridge canto career character Chaworth Childe Harold claim Coleridge commodity Corsair criticism cultural David Hume death degradation despot difference discourse Don Juan duel Edinburgh Review enlightenment equivocal essay ethical Faliero fascination father figure Francis Jeffrey Giaour Greek Gulnare Hazlitt hero Hobhouse Hume identifies imagined imperial J. G. A. Pocock Jean-François Lyotard Jeffrey John John Cam Hobhouse Juan's Julia Lady Byron Langley Moore language Lara letter liberal literary London Lord Byron Lyotard Marino Faliero mark Matthews's metaphor moral Murray Napoleon narrative narrator natural object Oriental parody Pedrillo perverse phrase poem poet poet's poetic poetry political economy Press publisher reader reading represents Review rhetorical Romantic Sardanapalus satire Scott sexual social society speculation stanza strength style Suwarrow thing tion trans truth Univ vols William woman words writing