Byron: Reality, Fiction and Madness

This book is a study of the amorphous, fragmented and digressive world of G. G. Byron's poetic works, and the themes of mutability, deformation and transgression, referred to as madness. It analyses the author's conscious process of self-fashioning, narrative dis-orientation and the dismantling of cultural pre-conceptions.

This book explores the amorphous, fragmented and digressive world of George Gordon Byron's poetic works, which are pervaded by the themes of change, mutability, deformation and transgression, often presented or described as madness. The blurring of the border between fiction and reality is a matter of the author's decisions concerning both his life and his texts, and a conscious process of construction and self-fashioning. It is also a recurring epistemological theme in Byron's works, which make take the form ofnarrative dis-orientation and the dismantling of easy cultural pre-conceptions. The Authors study Byron's artistic quixotism and his pursuit of creative freedom which reveals itself in the Romantic irony, digressiveness and self-awareness of his writings.

Autorentext

Maria Fengler lectures at the Institute of English and American Studies of the University of Gdäsk, Poland. She specializes in modern British and Irish poetry. Miros awa Modrzewska teaches British literature and cultural studies at the University of Gdäsk. She is President of the Polish Society for the Study of European Romanticism.

Inhalt

George Gordon Byron's poetic works Fragmented fiction Amorphous reality Madness Deformation Transgression Narrative dis-orientation Narrative chaos Dismantling of cultural pre-conceptions Fiction and auto-biography Authorial self-fashioning Epistemological vistas Subjectivity Romantic irony