Review: Lord Byron
Avis de journaliste - Kirkus ReviewsFor readers lacking the funds or dedication to buy or peruse Marchand's definitive 12-volume edition of Byron's letters and journals, this handy anthology serves up some marvelous prose by one of the live wires of English literature. Byron's letters are irresistible: vivid, unpremeditated, scintillating bursts of energy and wit; candid, cordial, self-mocking; the rhythm and punctuation as protean, headlong, and cavalier as the man himself. ""As to Don Juan,"" writes Byron to Douglas Kinnaird, ""confess--confess--you dog--and be candid . . . it may be bawdy--but is it not good English?--it may be profligate--but is it not life, is it not the thing?-Could any man have written it--who has not lived in the world?--and tooled in a post-chaise? in a hackney coach? in a Gondola? Against a wall? in a court carriage? in a vis a vis?--on a table?--and under it?"" Marchand prints some 136 complete letters (the Everyman's Library one-volume edition has 232, but they're expurgated), along with journal excerpts, useful biographical summaries of Byron and his correspondents, and (as if to make up for all the juicy material that had to be cut) a brief collection of ""memorable passages"" from other letters. Byronians, inevitably, will quarrel with Marchand over his omissions. We don't get Byron's desperate note of Aug. 7, 1811 to Scrope Davies on the death of his mother and the drowning of his friend Charles Skinner Matthews; nor the letter of Sept. 17, 1816 to his half-sister Augusta (""What a fool was I to marry--and you not very wise--my dear--""); nor others of like interest. These are deficiencies, but they're easily remedied with Marchand's complete Byron. A generous helping from a splendid feast.
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals,
Avis d'utilisateur - Buck - GoodreadsLord Byron limped fast, died young, and left a good-looking corpus. The review is pretty much downhill from here. Actually, and not to sound flippant, dying at 36 was probably the shrewdest career ... Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals
Avis d'utilisateur - Vincent Eaton - GoodreadsGreat stuff. A stylist with content that keeps a grin going right across the face. Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals
Avis d'utilisateur - NHU - GoodreadsAm re reading this splendid collection of letters, perhaps the best ever written. I rediscovered this book which had been in storage while I was in Viet Nam. What a pleasure! Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals,
Avis d'utilisateur - Rayna - GoodreadsI am sort of on a Lord Byron kick so bear with me. His writings were a joy to read. It was romantic, cynical, and a little macabre at times. Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals,
Avis d'utilisateur - Eric - GoodreadsTo read next! Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals,
Avis d'utilisateur - Pete - GoodreadsI keep this on my book shelf, occasionally reading a letter written to his mother and think, "Wow. What a cool guy." Consulter l'avis complet
Review: Lord Byron: Selected Letters and Journals,
Avis d'utilisateur - Maya - GoodreadsThis was a book that really changed my life. It was also one of the last things my grandmother ever got me. I remember she expressed confusion over the fact that I was really getting into books of ... Consulter l'avis complet
