Abstract
‘Somewhere or other’, George Orwell wrote at the start of his Notes on Nationalism, ‘Byron makes use of the French word longueur, and remarks in passing that though in England we happen not to have the word, we have the thing in considerable profusion.’ This chapter looks at Byron’s use of travelogue in the English and Norman Abbey cantos of Don Juan. It begins with Orwell’s perceptions about vagrant life in England in Down and Out in Paris and London, and focuses on details in Byron’s manuscripts which were omitted from the published cantos. Orwell and Byron are similarly concerned with the exposure of social inequality and establishment cant through a close attention to linguistic conventions and to things. The evolution of swearing, the persistence of ghost stories, the poverty that exists in a wealthy nation, and soul-destroying ennui emerge as a vital satiric legacy 100 years after Byron was writing.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Oxford handbook of Lord Byron |
Editors | Jonathon Shears, Alan Rawes |
Place of Publication | Oxford |
Publisher | Oxford University Press |
Chapter | 12 |
Pages | 171-186 |
Number of pages | 16 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9780191893445 |
ISBN (Print) | 9780198808800 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 17 Oct 2024 |
Keywords
- Lord Byron
- Don Juan
- English cantos
- George Orwell
- Satire
- Travel writing
- Manuscripts
- Ghost story