About the Book
In 1823, Lord Byron rented the Casa Saluzzo at Albaro in the hills east of Genoa, Italy. The poet shared the 16th-century palazzo with his mistress, Teresa Giuccioli, her brother, and their exiled father, Count Gamba.
His neighbors were Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, whose poet husband had recently drowned; Leigh Hunt, the critic and editor; and Edward Trelawney, a Cornish adventurer and close friend of both poets.
A frequent visitor that summer was Lady Marguerite Blessington, who kept detailed notes of their many conversations. From these conversations, an intimate insight is gained into Byron's personality, philosophy, mental state, opinion of himself, and the impression he made on others and society.
The complexity of Byron's character is revealed, as well as his phobias and rejection by English society for the scandals attached to his numerous amorous activities.
This three-act play paints the portrait of a tormented man, obsessed with his congenital lameness and a pressing sense of solitude, despite or because of his numerous affairs with married women in his elusive quest for love.
(About the Author)
Nigel Patten was born near London in 1940, and has lived in Switzerland since 1961, where he taught English at a French high school. He has published 12 books, including historical novels, a biography, an English course for French speakers, and a play on the last weeks of the poet Shelley's life. A two-time Reader's Favorite Award winner, the author travelled in a motorhome to India, and for 15 years sailed his sailboat between the Greek islands. Having reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro twice, he still hikes mountains. An actor and director, he was part of an amateur theatre troupe in Vevey for 40 years.
Review :
Reviewed By Jon Michael Miller for Readers' Favorite:
Byron: A Play in Three Acts by Nigel Patten is really a novel dressed up as a play. The long speeches, particularly by George Gordon, Lord Byron, British Romantic poet (1788-1824), would be almost impossible to follow by a theater audience, though they make for fascinating reading. Patten portrays the poet's last three days in Italy before moving on to become a supporter of Greece's war of independence against the Turks. Patten captures Byron's life in dialogue among the principal figures engaged with him at the time. These are Edward Trelawny, Teresa Giuccioli (Byron's mistress) Lady Blessington (a patron of the arts), Mary Shelley, in mourning for the death of her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, critic Leigh Hunt, and a few minor characters. Along with the brilliant dialogue, Mr. Patten gives us stage directions that include precise descriptions of the sets, costumes, and views of the Mediterranean Sea.
The conversations among these giants of the early 19th century are fascinating. More than learning facts about Byron's life, we get a powerful and engaging dose of his personality and of his views of his own self, his poetry, his friends and enemies, his opinions on diverse philosophical issues, of women in general and in particular (especially of his ex-wife, Lady Byron), and of the slings and arrows of being a poet and gentleman of note. We learn of his diet, dealing with his club foot, his critics, his travels, his childhood, his loves and debaucheries, and his concerns about Greek independence. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for Mr. Patten to capture the expansiveness of Byron's character, but he pulls it off magnificently. A literature major in grad school, I was captivated, recalling the great poems and now hearing of Byron, the man, and of the milieu of his final days. As a man, Byron was a centerpiece of European culture, arts, and letters, and Patten's work, Byron: A Play in Three Acts, is a must-read for anyone interested in literature. Thank you, Nigel Patten!
