Synopses & Reviews
Review
"'If I am a poet,' Byron wrote, 'the air of Greece has made me one.' The air of Greece also killed him. Byron contracted his final, fatal fever on a rainy evening stroll in the empty little town of Mesolongi, a town which today lives on tourist revenues generated from his memory. That would have amused Byron, who did not venerate the past: 'a classical column was a place to carve his initials.' Minta's book is lucid and entertaining but a strange juxtaposition of poetry and prose, impressionistic travelogue and the cold hard facts of biography. As in Byron's unconventional sexuality (handled here with tactful candor) there are diverse, sometimes conflicting impulses at work. The book aims more at a popular than a scholarly audience, and it is recommended as a hard-eyed look at this literary hero, as well as a cautionary tale for those seeking the glories of Greece amidst the contemporary reality of beer-can litter." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [284]-285) and index.