Customer Reviews

Byron: Life and Legend

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Fiona MacCarthy's biography of Byron is a masterpiece of detail, insight and scholarship of a high order. It has already been acclaimed by the best critics as more than equal to her other fine biographies of Eric Gill and William Morris, and is a worthy successor to Lesley Marchand's definitive three-volume study, also published by John Murray. MacCarthy not only had the advantage of access to new material from the Murray archive, but her `re-assessment' of Byron's personal life benefited from being able to write without the severe restrictions and discretion placed upon earlier biographers, Marchand included. As a result, the inner conflicts and turmoil of Byron's life and loves emerge with a clarity and poignancy denied to earlier interpretations.

The life unfolds chronologically, the chapter headings specifying the countries and places representing the periods of Byron's life associated with them: Cambridge 1805-7, London and Brighton 1808-9, Greece and Constantinople 1809-10, and so on. The author's intellectual grasp and unstinting devotion to verifiable fact, all this no doubt enhanced by her five-year `pilgrimage' through the countries of Europe visited by Byron, lends authority and an authentic flavour to the style and language. The many references to correspondence, together with quotations from the poetry, are made with due regard to their relevance to particular places, people and events, the writer's occasional interpretative comment being well justified by her soundly-based acquaintance, and indeed intimacy, with the scope of her subject.

Such considered commentary, always unobtrusive, is necessary as much to the craftmanship and thematic working of the book as a whole, as it is to achieving a natural coherence and fluency in the language. For example, Byron tasted the `excitements' of gambling, encouraged by Scrope Davies, his Cambridge friend: "For Byron excitement was a state of bliss, in all respects preferable to inertia. Each turn of the card and each cast of the dice created life-enhancing tension. A gambler always lived in hope." Here there is a hint of symbolism, an insight into the risks and rewards of an adventurous life. Similarly, the description of a memorable episode involving the shooting dead of the Military Commander of Ravenna, Captain Luigi dal Pinto, in the street close to Byron's residence, later followed by an assassination attempt on Byron himself, concludes with the observation: "But what interested Byron most about the murder was not the local politics but the underlying strangeness, what it said about the human condition. What was the dividing line between a life and a death, he wondered as he sat beside the oddly tranquil body of the physically courageous but unpopular Dal Pinto....?" The comprehensive and meticulous `Sources and Reference Notes' provide the searching reader with page by page elucidation of the text, this further amplified by an excellent Index highlighting persons, locations, works and attributes.

This book will delight not only the literary scholar but also the critical general reader who is prepared to expend a certain mental effort in tackling what after all is a solid testament to a literary genius, a figure no less heroic than the Napoleon he emulated. The author eschews emotionalism and allows the drama of a life to speak from within itself: herein lies the writer's art. The characters themselves come to life in all their paradoxical humanity, whether it be - to name but a few - the absurdly capricious (and vindictive) Lady Caroline Lamb, fellow-poet and `brother outcast' Shelley, the loyal and protective Hobhouse, or Countess Teresa Guiccioli, Byron's most `enduring' mistress, with whom he conducted an affair `in an atmosphere of stealth and potential skulduggery'.

More controversial is MacCarthy's treatment of Byron's passionate friendships with adolescent boys, a subject either ignored, glossed over or minimised by previous biographers. Here, the interpretation - of ambiguous and sometimes sketchy evidence - is that these liaisons were central to the poet's emotional and sexual life, rather than the many, often flamboyant, affairs with women. Doris Langley (in her `Lord Byron: Accounts Rendered') argues the opposite: that women were his main emotional focus, while his boy-friendships are seen as mere diversions. MacCarthy's view is persuasive inasmuch as an `innate sexual orientation towards boys explains many of the lingering puzzles of his history.' The necessity of concealment thus lay behind `the dazzling obfuscations of his writing', as for example in the `Thyrza' poems addressed to the Cambridge chorister, John Edlestone.

What is irresistible is the idea of the nature of love as paradoxical, of passion and conflict as bedfellows, and the force with which the complex themes of raw emotional power and humanity resonate through the pages. `Byron Life and Legend' is beautifully produced and superbly illustrated. It is now an indispensable part of Byronic lore, and a `sine qua non' for literary collections and libraries.

Fiona MacCarthy has written the most important Byron
biography for half a century, published by John Murray, Byron's
own publisher. She is responsive to Byron's poetry, and sometimes
brings considerable insight to it, but her main concern is Byron
as a man and as a phenomenon: his fame and ambition, his
manipulation of his images, the "complex and fascinating
intertwining of his personal celebrity and literary reputation",
his later notoriety and bitterness.

Byron was a bundle of contradictions. Shy, pale and
effeminate, short and with a strong tendency to become fat,
crippled with foot deformities, he nevertheless became the
reigning male sex symbol of the 19th century. To this day the
Byronic hero seen as the archetypal male adventurer, with his
sardonic and defiant virility. Byron had an abundance of
character defects -- he could be mean and petty to even his best
friends -- but he also had charm and a gift for empathy, which
gained lasting devotion from those close to him.

At the age of 18 Byron was chubby: 5 feet 8 inches tall and
weighing 194 pounds. But by 24 he had slimmed down to 140 pounds:
he was then at the height of his beauty and on the threshold of
fame, which would come from the publication of Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage. Soon females of all ages and descriptions would be
throwing themselves at him, exhibiting the sexual frenzy that
would later greet such celebrities as Franz Liszt, Rudolf
Valentino and Elvis Presley.

Fiona MacCarthy has written a full-scale biography, which
covers in vivid detail his affairs and friendships; his
unfortunate marriage; his residences, costumes, animals,
carriages, etc.; his travels; his political involvements; his
writings; his grisly death in Greece from malnutrition,
alcoholism, laxatives and bleedings; and the aftermath.

MacCarthy has a sense of irony and can appreciate camp, the
unique humor of gay men. From her Introduction:

"In the cacophony of sophisticated voices, the female as
self-assured and brittle as the male, Byron's own laconic
tones stand out as irresistibly self-mocking. Accused of
carrying off a girl from a convent: 'I should like to know
who has been carried off -- except poor dear me -- I have
been more ravished myself than anybody since the Trojan
war.' Here is Byron as progenitor of a high camp English
manner of expression that extends to Oscar Wilde, Ronald
Firbank, Noel Coward."

For many reasons this is the finest Byron biography ever
written. Fiona MacCarthy was given full access to the Byron
archives of the John Murray publishing house, largest in the
world, which had previously been opened only to Leslie Marchand in
the fifties (on condition that he not allude to Byron's sexual
attraction to handsome young males). She could and did tell the
truth about Byron's sexuality. And she could utilize the
scholarship of her predecessors. MacCarthy writes with
intelligence and style, maintaining objectivity and good humor
throughout. The book is handsomely produced, with 76 beautiful
illustrations on heavy coated stock. I enthusiastically recommend
it.

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Don't see how anyone will outdo MacCarthy on Byron anytime soon: this is THE book on Byron--that is, on his biography: MacCarthy's nearly 700 page tome is all about the man, and very little about the literature. Which is curious, because usually we're accustomed to seeing "critical biographies"--meaning the story of the person's life dovetailed with a literary critical explication of the person's art. (By the way, although some have urged that Ellmann's tome on Joyce is the ne plus ultra of critical-bio [James Joyce (Oxford Lives)] I will yet insist that his exquisite work on Wilde is his truly greatest work [Oscar Wilde].)

In any case, while there's probably much critical literature on Byron's art, this is THE BOOK on his life.
.

Foremost, this is probably one of the most heavily researched books of Byron. Coming in at over 500 pages (and in small print!) this book exacting chronicles Byron's life. This tome certainly shows thousands of hours of research and work. Digging deep into the detail of Byron and the people in his life, this story reconciles different journalistic accounts of the same episodes, divines the truth when someone's memories are prone to hyperbole, and uncovers the mystery and motivation behind the stanzas in some of Byron's poems. For instance, the book even nabs Byron for fibbing at his cricket score! Undoubtedly, the research is first rate.

I take off one star for a couple of reasons. First, while the book is the complete life of Byron, the story itself feels academic and dry. It's the historic account of his life from one day to the next. So, in some places, the book becomes a run on of just one event to the next. There is no interpretation or anecdotes that bring Byron to life. It took some special effort to pay attention in some chapters.

Second, I wish the book would have developed the tangent of Bryon's dandyism and his dandy colleagues. Byron was familiar with two of histories greatest dandy's, Beau Brummell and Count d'Orsay. While Byron himself didn't label himself a dandy, he nonetheless had influence among this set and often hobnobbed with those who fashioned themselves as dandies. It would have been a rich vein if the book had told this tale a bit more.

Third, the mojo behind Byron's womanizing is left unexplained. While Byron was known as a great lady's man, the book never really uncovers his magic, his special charm that lead him to bed so many women. The tale is told, but not the special charm behind it. Oh, why didn't this book explain the mystery behind Byron's famous "Underlook!"

If you're looking for a lighter read of Byron, this isn't it. If you're looking for the complete life of Byron, then get this book.

This is a wonderfully detailed book on Lord Byron's life, written in a style that keeps one's interest. My only
objection is that the author takes greatliberty in discussing
Byron's sexuality in his later years. MacCarthy even offers
up, without evidence, the suggestion that Bryon could have been a child molester. The characterizations as "fact" based on what the author believes was going on in Byron's head, are unfair, cruel and pretty outrageous.

This is a very good biography, full of facts and devoid of speculation. However, reading this biography of Byron, one gets the feeling that perhaps he should have been castrated at birth. Women begged him for his sexual favors and young boys were not immune to his amatory attentions. After a few hundred pages, the litany of B's conquests becomes tiresome and almost boring. Readers who are not interested in the sexual excesses of famous poets won't find much to engage them here.

The author's subtitle is "Life and Legend," but if you are one who admires Byron's poetry, I'd suggest avoiding this book. It might make you admire Byron the person much less. The book doesn't really make clear why Byron's poetry was such a sensation or what made Byron a legend. Perhaps he was charming, but we see little evidence of his charm in this book.

Elizabeth Taylor once said that when she first met Richard Burton, she resolved not to become another notch on his belt. She succumbed anyway. Byron, apparently, never met a woman--and few men--who didn't pant to become a notch on his belt.

Chapter 22 begins "...[Byron] was sick of promiscuity." About time! He is now 31 years old, but any resolve to avoid promiscuity that might have attached to this sentiment didn't last long. He and Teresa Guiccioli (a married woman) jumped into bed at their third meeting. At least he stuck to her longer than to any of his previous amours, though not uninterruptedly, and she was no saint herself. It all sounds quite sordid.

Byron's death is very affecting. The doctors probably killed him with the barbaric contemporary practice of bloodletting.

The author quotes occasionally from Byron's poems but doesn't discuss or analyze any of them.

A more generous use of commas would have improved the readability of the text.

The 19th century Brits were a wonderful lot in their witty, literate debauchery. There's no fact so delightful to me in reading about Victorians than the over-obvious fact of how un-Victorian the titled classes were. Byron was hardly unique in his promiscuity, nor in his sexual proclivities.

MacCarthy has done a splendid job in her research and her writing. The subject is pregnant with the possiblity of failure but this treatment succeeds both in holding the reader's attention and delighting with the structure and prose.

The one criticism with which I concur with another reviewer is MacCarthy's seeming aversion to commas. Their lack where they could have aided the reader is so obvious as to be absolutely jarring in their absence.

As mentioned in the title, I will never know how this edition of this book is because it is printed in type so minuscule that I cannot read it even with bifocals; looks like 6 point type. I guess the publisher was just thinking up a storm when they decided to have it printed.

This book is dogmatic and tiresome and silly, which things Byron was not. It fully justifies Byron's bad opinion of scholars and trusts all the calumnies the poet has ever abhored. Skip this biography that does the Murray publishing house as much good as their "Death of God"
Read the poetry and the letters. Read Malcolm Elwin and Drinkwater.