About this Resource
Byronism, defined here as the production and
reproduction of the Byron legend, incorporates, but also
extends well beyond, Lord Byron the historical personage.
This mythologizing has been effected by authors, critics,
reviewers, and others who have found it necessary to
read, mediate, or converse
with the Byron myth. Byronism pervades not only the
nineteenth but the twentieth century as well. Its
mythologies have been altered, expanded, and diminished
by authors who continue to produce and reproduce the
Byron legend. Byron becomes an effect of this perpetual
manipulation of the Byronic figure.
Relying on historical and intertextual perspectives,
this resource focuses not only on nineteenth-century but
also on twentieth-century texts. Rather than
concentrating on biographies, reviews, or critical works
to delineate a historical evolution, it centers on those
works that fictionally represent Byron. The author has
used this resource to locate intertextual connections of
such tropes as the Byronic vampire and the Byronic ghost.
Other tropes could easily be gleaned from the list: the
rebel, the libertine, the philosopher, or the queer, to
name only a few. To be honest, the author never imagined
when he set out on this search, that he would find over
one hundred works that in some way feature Byron as a
fictional character.
This annotated bibliography, presented in
chronological order, references works specifically about
Lord Byron, while also citing secondary characters such
as Lady Caroline Lamb, Lady Byron, Percy and Mary
Shelley, and others.
About the
Author
G. Todd Davis, an assistant professor at Kentucky
State University, specializes in Nineteenth-century
British Literature and Critical Theory, with specific
subfields in The Gothic and Queer Theory. He has a
passion for, some would say an obsession with, Lord
Byron—the one person with whom the author would
like to have dinner, if time travel were ever possible.
The author gratefully acknowledges the editors of
Romantic Circles and Melissa J. Sites and David
Brookshire, who provided numerous emendations and
incredibly detailed suggestions for improvement. Their
help was and continues to be deeply appreciated. He can
be reached at todd period davis at kysu period
edu.
