Roderick Beaton re-examines Lord Byron's life and writing through the long trajectory of his relationship with Greece. Beginning with the poet's youthful travels in 1809-1811, Byron's War traces his years of fame in London and self-imposed exile in Italy, that culminated in the decision to devote himself to the cause of Greek independence. Then comes Byron's dramatic self-transformation, while in Cephalonia, from Romantic rebel to 'new statesman', subordinating himself for the first time to a defined, political cause, in order to begin laying the foundations, during his 'hundred days' at Missolonghi, for a new kind of polity in Europe - that of the nation-state as we know it today. Byron's War draws extensively on Greek historical sources and other unpublished documents, to tell an individual story that also offers a new understanding of the significance that Greece had for Byron, and of Byron's contribution to the origin of the present-day Greek state.

Author: Roderick Beaton
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 11/17/2014
Pages: 356
Weight: 1.3lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781107470385

About the Author
Beaton, Roderick: - Roderick Beaton is Koraes Professor of Modern Greek and Byzantine History, Language and Literature in the Centre for Hellenic Studies at King's College London.