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Byron: A Life in Ten Letters
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About This Book
Lord Byron was the most celebrated of all the Romantic poets. Troubled, handsome, sexually fluid, disabled, and transgressive, he wrote his way to international fame – and scandal – before finding a kind of redemption in the Greek Revolution. He also left behind the vast trove of thrilling letters (to friends, relatives, lovers, and more) that form the core of this remarkable biography. Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Byron's death, and adopting a fresh approach, it explores his life and work through some of his best, most resonant correspondence. Each chapter opens with Byron's own voice – as if we have opened a letter from the poet himself – followed by a vivid account of the emotions and experiences that missive touches. This gripping life traces the meteoric trajectory of a poet whose brilliance shook the world and whose legacy continues to shape art and culture to this day.
Reviews
"Successive chapters, like vivid lantern slides, illuminate the whole Byronic landscape ..."
"We hear Byron's rapid-fire conversational voice on the page ..."
"Paradoxically scholarly and entertaining."
"Stauffer's approach is, as he concedes, not particularly original..."
"This stands out in the crowded field of Byron biographies."
"A rounded portrait, venereal scars and all, of one of the prime movers of the Romantic movement ..."
"If Stauffer's compelling discussions of the poetry are sometimes tantalisingly brief, he fully succeeds in showing Byron's mastery of letter-writing as a literary art in itself."
"Stauffer dedicates a fair amount of space to explaining the many references in the letters, but he's also careful to maintain a lively narrative of Byron's life, clear about his many flaws but clarifying why he was such a commanding figure."
"A compact biography, elegantly structured around a few choice pickings from the poet's correspondence."
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