Lord Byron's Strength: Romantic Writing and Commercial Society [Paperback]

Jerome Christensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1995

According 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.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In this dense, scholarly work, Christensen argues that the phenomenon of "Byronism" was created by a literary system involving poet, publisher, reviewers, and readers. Moreover, this economically profitable venture was used by an emerging commercial society as a weapon in the war against the despotism of Napoleon. Eventually, in Don Juan , Byron repudiated the commercialization of his name, and this poem marks his challenge to the society that had created the cultural institution of "Byronism." The general reader with an interest in Byron is likely to be bewildered by the arcane literary and political theories that Christensen is familiar with and will feel that Wordsworth's lines "My drift I fear/ Is scarcely obvious," quoted by the author in another context, apply to this book. For academic libraries.
- Bryan Aubrey, Fairfield, Ia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Contains some of the most striking and sophisticated essays on Byron written in the last two decades... Performs a welcome intervention in the critical literature on Byron and points towards a future direction for Byron studies.

(Albion )

An important book... Christensen's grasp on the historical material is impressive, and his explications of poetic passages are persuasive.

(Nineteenth Century Studies )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (May 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801843561
• ISBN-13: 978-0801843563
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,421,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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