Product Description

This biography reinterprets the great man's life and poetry. MacCarthy casts a fresh eye on Byron's childhood in Scotland, his embattled relations with his mother and his series of relationships with adolescent boys.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55673 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 688 pages

Review
Described during his lifetime as 'mad, bad and dangerous to know', George Gordon, Lord Byron is almost as well known now as he was in his Regency heyday, and his reputation is as contested as ever. Fiona MacCarthy, author of books about Eric Gill and William Morris, is an accomplished and fastidious biographer, and this is one of the most impressive studies of the charismatic poet. MacCarthy was given exclusive access to the enormous Byron archives of the publisher John Murray, and her research into the poet's life took her to many strange and out-of-the-way sources. She is particularly acute on Byron's tangled love life, and tackles his sexuality from a modern perspective, arguing convincingly that his chief romantic interest was in beautiful youths, and that this was at the root of his departure from England and attraction towards Greece and the East, where homosexual behaviour was less taboo. MacCarthy's marshalling of all the complicated facts and conflicting rumours about Byron's life is masterly; she makes it easy for the reader to follow his path from Aberdeen through Cambridge and the salons of literary London to death at Missolonghi, and uses his letters and poems to illuminate his thoughts and feelings at every stage. In an excellent concluding section, she examines the sequence of events immediately after Byron's death, quotes a range of contemporary reactions and discusses how his reputation has developed in the two centuries since, showing how figures from Disraeli to Harold Nicolson have identified themselves with the poet. A classic biography. (Kirkus UK)

About the Author
Fiona MacCarthy was the Royal Society of Arts Bicentenary Medallist for 1986. She is an honorary fellow both of the Royal College of Art and of the Nineteenth Century Studies Centre at the University of Sheffield. Her controversial life of Eric Gill, published in 1989, established her immediately as an authoritative, serious yet eminently readable biographer, and her William Morris won the Wolfson History Prize and the Writers' Guild Non-fiction Award for 1995.

Customer Reviews

The First Rock Star!
In a nutshell...

This is a totally engrossing biography, written in such detail as to really give the reader an indepth and thorough insight into the turgid, wanton, sensational, exciting, sad and amazing life of the good Lord!

If I could criticise anything about Ms MacCarthy's glorious efforts, it might be that the book is indeed a little too comprehensive in parts; so much so, that certain less notable events or incidents are covered in a little too much detail! But hey, a little editing aside, I would suggest you clear the 'reading decks' for a week and immerse yourself in a truly superb piece of writing - about a man who in my humble opinion was the first true enigmatic international celebrity of his generation or those prior to it!

LS

The real truth about Byron
This marvellous, wonderfully researched book tells the truth about Byron - the good, the bad, the notorious. I was particularly fascinated by the detailed account of his final months in Greece, and his posthumous influence on European thought. As a native of Nottingham Byron and Newstead are very close to my heart and it was wonderful to learn so much more about him than I ever knew (although suspected much) before. I've always loved Byron's poetry and letters and it was a joy to come across so many favourite extracts and quotations. If only Murrays would issue a new edition of the complete letters - or reprint the Marchand volumes. And what about a really good Complete Works? Finishing Fiona MacCarthy's biography was like bidding farewell to an old friend - I just wish I'd bought the hardback, not the paperback, in which I found the print rather small.

Mad, bad, and dangerous to know
Byron brought alive...warts and all. What a terrific read and worthy account of a most enigmatic poet reviled at home but revered still in Greece.