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Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life

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There is 1997's 400+ page BYRON:THE FLAWED ANGEL by Phyllis Grosskurth. There is 1999's colossal, almost 800 page BYRON: CHILD OF PASSION, FOOL OF FAME by Benita Eisler. And then there is 2002's almost 600 page BYRON: LIFE AND LEGEND by Fiona MacCarthy. All three books just mentioned are handsomely designed, graced with vital illustrations and thoroughly researched, wonderfully written and, for anyone wishing to know Byron in rich, deep detail I suggest they seek out these volumes. (Curious that all three of these books - including the one I am about to discuss - are written by women. Byron always attracted the ladies - in his own day down unto the present time, it seems.)

Anyway - along comes Edna O'Brien's take on the great man and poet. There are NO illustrations in this slim volume, despite Publisher's Weekly saying there were eight pages of illustrations in its review. The dustjacket - as designed by Evan Gaffney Design - is amongst the most lurid and cheesy book covers I have ever seen. The book itself: I wonder why it was actually written, in view of the mammoth biographies listed above (not to mention Leslie Marchand's epic three volume LIFE OF BYRON written in the late fifties.) I suppose if someone wants to know something of Lord Byron - but not too much - then this highly condensed and easy read is the book for them. It narrows in on Byron's love life (hence the blatant, trite title) so you will learn next to nothing of his poetry or what made his poetry great. The Diodati summer with the Shelley party is barely mentioned. (The book's jump from his failed marriage to his revels in Venice reminds me of the BBC Production BYRON done a few years ago; while a very good movie, it - like this book - is much too brief.) The authoress even wonders, in her introduction "Why another book on Byron?" - but her answer is quite lame and more non-answer anyway.

Despite great gaps in this telling of Byron's "short, daring life" (which despite only running 36 years comprised at the very least the lives of ten men) so much is quickly crammed in too few pages that, if you knew absolutely NOTHING about Byron, you'd probably end up more baffled than fully informed after reading this book. It would leave you...hungry. It is a TV dinner of a book. I understand Edna O'Brien is "universally recognized as one of our greatest novelists" - at least this is what the inside dustjacket flap informs me below a very posed and Byronesque/ Romantic photo of the writer. Well, if this is truly the case, perhaps it would have been wiser if Ms. O'Brien had written the Byron story as a novel. Now THAT would have been a relatively newer approach to his oft-told tale. Alas, she did not - and what we are left with just made me hunger to reread the three epic works listed at the beginning of this review.

"Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life," gives us a short, daring treatment of the life of George Gordon, Lord Byron, noted romantic poet of the British Regency period. Byron, whom many consider to be the first modern celebrity, a rock star in his own time, composed the longer works "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," and "Don Juan," as well as the famed shorter works "She Walks in Beauty," "When We Two Parted," and "So, We'll Go No More A Roving." He lived most of his life (1788-1824) within what's considered the Regency period in Great Britain; (the time when George IV ascended the throne, although his father, George III was still alive, though mentally incapacitated; the situation required a regency.) This period is most strictly dated from 1811-1820; but is more generally considered to run from 1795-1837, between the English Georgian and Victorian ages. Jane Austen is generally considered the landmark British author of the age; but, despite Austen's pleasantly civilized domestic novels, it was a period of great licentious excess, particularly among the nobility, who were light years removed from, and astronomically richer than, their more ordinary compatriots. And Byron was the most licentious of them all: one of his many mistresses, the well-known Lady Caroline Lamb, notably characterized him as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know." And, of course, as these things go, as the yin always calls forth the yang, this era was followed by the prudish and hypocritical Victorian period.

Edna O'Brien, noted Irish author (The Country Girls Trilogy and Epilogue), and most recently The Light of Evening), is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has earned great popularity for her work; also many awards, including the James Joyce Ulysses Medal, a Kingsley Amis Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (for Lantern Slides , 1990.) I cannot think of another author better suited, by coolness of wit and comprehension of unusual behavior, to bring back to life the poet's extraordinarily excessive existence. Byron was a nasty son, a never-satisfied lover of both sexes, a wounding husband and father, a wanton spendthrift, a loyal friend, and a reckless, generally foolish adventurer. However, if I may just interject here; this may be a somewhat novelistic treatment of the poet's life, but Byron, his family, friends and lovers were real people, of the upper castes, and portraits exist of most of them. I wish they'd been given to us here, so we could visualize these people.

Byron was an extraordinarily handsome and charismatic man, although he was born with a club foot and was lame all his life. He was the son of the heavy-set, frequently depressed Scottish noblewoman and heiress Catherine Gordon, second wife of Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron; and between the two of them, the pair spent every penny she had. The boy poet was sent to Harrow and Cambridge, two outstanding, prestigious, ancient schools, where the nobility were frequently sent. But Byron found flirtation more satisfying than study. At the age of ten, the poet-to-be inherited land and title from an uncle, becoming "Lord Byron." And it was off to the races with him. In 1812, he had a highly publicized affair with the married Lady Caroline Lamb, scandalizing the English public. He was to marry Lady Caroline's cousin, Anne Isabella (Annabella) Milbanke, also an heiress of the nobility, in 1815. Annabella had a miserable year with the man, as he much preferred his married half-sister Lady Augusta Leigh: both women delivered girls he presumably fathered at about the same time. Annabella soon legally separated from the poet, charging him with sodomy and incest; charges so serious English public opinion strongly turned against him, never to turn again to his favor during his life. So he went abroad. He became close friends with Percy Bysshe Shelley, another famed romantic poet in self-imposed exile, and Shelley's wife, Mary Godwin Shelley, who was to write the world-famous book Frankenstein . Byron fathered yet another daughter on Claire Clairmont, Mary's stepsister, and once again refused any support to mother or daughter. One of his last, best-known affairs was with the Italian Countess Teresa Guiccioli, who was to write a memoir about him. He died of a fever in Mesolonghi, Greece, at the age of 36, as he was trying to assist in that country's efforts to free itself from the Turkish Empire.

Frankly, I am no big fan of Byron, and never have been; nor am I a fan of Shelley. In fact, I have never been much of a fan of the romantic poets. I began my college career as an English major, signed up for the required course on the romantic poets, bought the required books, said to myself, what am I doing here? I don't like these guys, and became a history major. So I must say, O'Brien's book makes brilliantly clear and vivid the utter looniness of Byron's life; and, also, the seeming utter looniness of his friends, family: anybody who had anything to do with him. Her book, in fact, leaves me wondering if the entire continent was off its rocker at the time. But O'Brien remains remarkably non-judgmental throughout; she will allow the reader to reach his or her own conclusions.

Edna O'Brien is a gifted writer with a deft touch and a wonderful way of composing her sentences. And she has put together a breezy, light biography of Byron the man, mostly focusing on his loves and passions.

However, given the earlier comprehensive bios available, I was left at the end wondering what the point of this book exactly was? Is it for Byron fanatics, people with mild Byron interests -- who is the audience?

As much as I enjoyed reading it (and it's a quick read), I would pass unless you are a great fan of Ms. O'Brien.

I understand that "better" biographies have been written on Byron, but I certainly did not want to read a 600-page book when I was simply looking for some light reading ... I read this purely for entertainment, and it served its purpose. I'm not a huge fan of HOW it is written; in some parts I wondered whether her editor had even reviewed it. Perhaps a bit more commentary on what works he wrote during particular periods of his life would have been nice - context tends to be helpful. But that doesn't seem to be the author's goal here. Instead, the author focuses on the man rather than the poet, providing an interesting biography of a deplorable, destructive (to self and others) human being and the impact he had on everyone and everything around him. It's impossible to walk away from this book without concrete opinions and sentiments regarding the infamous Lord Byron. If you're looking for a fun rather than academic biography of Byron, this one is pretty decent.

There are many highly regarded biographies of Byron. Of these many biographies, this one is much shorter and focuses on the love life of Byron. Edna O'Brien has decided not to discuss the literary work in any depth but rather to discuss the multiple romantic and sexual relationships in which Byron engaged. She also does not provide an historic and cultural context for the life and works of Byron. If she had decided to discuss his creative activities as well as the times in which Byron worked, the 200 pages would have expanded to 600 pages. So, if you want to know all the wild sexual behaviors, the artistic contribution, and the context in which Byron worked, this is not the book for you. However, if you are willing to settle for just the chaotic relationships, then this short introduction to the life of Byron is just right for your expectations. O'Brien is also slightly sarcastic and this dry wit emerges from her text - a nice touch.
It is difficult to discuss his multiple relationships, especially with women, without recognition of his vast fame due to his longer works such as Childe Harold and Don Juan. It is interesting that Byron's relationships with women were generally persons of high social class whereas his adult sexual relationships with men were generally with men of a lower social station than Byron. This was not necessarily the case in regard to the love affairs he had at Harrow and Cambridge with young men. He lived a short life of only 36 years (1788-1824) but lived a wild adventurous existence during these years. Every relationship in which he engaged seemed to end badly. I was especially concerned that he was a very poor father, just as self-centered as a father as he was as a lover. Because of the length of the book, I never really empathized with any of his female lovers. They seemed to know full well what they were getting into. Possibly it was the very handsome features that caused women and some men to fall immediately under his spell. But he was abusive and I was amazed that many of the women in his life lacked the self respect to leave him. His affair with Lady Caroline Lamb scandalized the nation. He married Caroline's cousin Annabella Milbanke and drove her to the point of exhaustion. He also was involved with his married half-sister Augusta Leigh. Both women had daughters that are believed to be the children of Byron. The nasty divorce between Annabella and Bryon is responsible for his downfall in England since Annabella reveled much about their marriage that was beyond the scope of acceptable behavior in England at the time. Byron, upon leaving England, spent time with Percy Shelly and Mary Shelley. I got the impression that this was not really a close relationship for any of them. Byron has a third daughter with Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont, whom Bryon treats terribly. I guess at this point he has nothing to lose so he might as well treat all other humans poorly. One of his last affairs with a woman was with the Italian Countess Teresa Guiccioli, who O'Brien describes as a very spoiled young woman. Byron goes to Greece to help the Greeks fight for independence against Islamic Turkey and here he dies of a fever after being bleed of quart after quart of blood. As an introduction to the life of Byron, I think the book is successful. It is relatively short, only has a few quotations from Byron's works, and provides much more detail about the affairs Byron had with women than the details of affairs he had with men. Possibly this is the result of customs and norms of the time that would allow relationships with women to be more open and observed and those with men to be more hidden.

I say this, because I've read other works of hers, and in those, she can string grammatical sentences together, choose the appropriate form of flexible words and doesn't repeat information one page after already having imparted it. I wanted to like this book - I was excitedly awaiting its arrival. I have now devoured it in two sittings, somewhat puzzled as to why O'Brien wrote it, and why no one edited her.

Page after page of sloppy, unparallel run-ons. Nonsensical fragments. Bizarre, seemingly drug-induced changes in tense. She uses importune as an adjective - unaware that importunate exists? Or was she trying to compose as she'd read the Romantics did, automatically, under the influence of opiates?

I also agree with the other reviewer who noted an odd distance from her material. I fear most of this, haphazardly strung together, will wash over me, leaving me with little other than a distinct distaste for one of my favorite poets and personages. (that last sentence happened because I've been infected by her "style" - but if the infection were complete, all those clauses would still add up to a tense-confused fragment.)

I loved Byron when I started this book. Now he kind of makes me feel sick.

Despite the endlessly fascinating subject, and the enormous amount of detailed information presented, Ms. O'Brien gives us one of the worst-written books you could ask for, complete with run-on sentences, sentence fragments, pointless changes of tense, awkward constructions - as if the book had had no editor. It is literally difficult to digest some of the language. What a shame. In addition, she seems remote from her subject, and runs Byron's affairs together like so much tabloid fodder. Maybe the copyright should be sold to another writer, who could re-work it into something resembling a good read.

When I was a girl growing up in a sleepy suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, a youthful dreamer of romance and far-away places, I fell in love with George Gordon, Lord Byron, in far-off England. Even now, many years later, I still am. This biography is well-researched, thoughtful and incisive - the author knows and understands her subject. It's a short book and a pleasure to read. Despite the poet's personal short-comings and rather tragic life, he is - as I found him, caught in profile on the cover and alive on these pages - still one of my favorite fellows.

My interest in reading Byron In Love was sparked by a review I read in National Review. Not being much into poetry, I knew only snippets of his verse and something of his reputation as a ladies' man but nothing I had heard prepared me for what I learned about Byron here. George Gordon Lord Byron turns out not just as one of England's greatest poets but also as one of the most prolific horndogs in recorded history. It seems that he wanted to "tool" nearly every woman he met and half of the men as well.
If you don't want to spend the time reading one of the massive tomes that have been published on Byron's life but want to have a passable knowledge of him, then you may just find that Byron In Love is a solid introduction to Byron the man.
Edna O'Brien shows him to be a vain, cruel, capricious, exceedingly concupiscent, dismissive, boorish, cynical, and crude spendthrift. But despite these faults, he possessed a sharp intellect, a gift of gab, and good looks that had women flocking to him in droves. He also was idealistic in his support of human rights causes unpopular with the English ruling classes. This love of humanity in the abstract however did not translate into loving those closest to him including his children whom he regarded with utter distaste. I don't mean to imply that Byron had no friends but he often managed to quickly alienate those he had. Perhaps a messy personal life is a prerequisite to greatness in the fields of art, music, and literature.
Although O'Brien's style is often lofty and contains many odd turns of phrase, I found the book to be engrossing and often extremely amusing. Just when you think Byron could not be more outrageous in his behavior, he is. There is never a dull moment and always a new surprise on the next page. If you are an expert on the life of Byron, you are probably aware of most or all of what is related in this book. But if you are someone who just enjoys an entertaining read while adding to your storehouse of cultural knowledge, then Byron In Love is a book to consider.

In the forward to BYRON IN LOVE, Edna O'Brien gives a broad acknowledgement to previous writers on the poet "...a host of other authors--biographers, scholars, poets and yes, even scoundrels, who have written with passion, erudition and far-fetchedness..." This motley mass thank you seems to sum up one of the central problems of the book. Statements are made about Byron, and most of the account of him consists of a recital of the most salacious scandals and rumors about him--almost completely undocumented. Who reported this disgusting incident about him--a scholar or a scoundrel? This hair-curling anecdote--was it written with erudition or "far-fetchedness"? Unmarred by footnote or bibliography, it comes down to the worst sort of tabloid version of a biography. ("A close source confides Lord Byron ate live kittens..." "An insider reveals the poet once had sex with the corpse of a squid...")
I think it was Will Cuppy who said, "It always sort of ruins a book for me when it's unreadable." Exactly. I couldn't finish this and wish I hadn't started it.