Byron and Romanticism

'[Jerome McGann's] Byron and Romanticism represents a quarter century of important scholarly work on the subtle ironies of Byron's poetry and of the Byzantine connections between that poetry and Byron's complicated life. McGann is especially interested in Byron's complex 'double-speaking'. Here's a critic who understands that Byron is always playing games with his audience - actually, with multiple audiences. And that they are extremely tricky, contradictory games ... McGann's larger aim is to reform literary studies, to bring about a new synthesis of traditional, pragmatic criticism and hyper-sophisticated theory. His book is a step in the right direction toward a reform that the serious study of literature urgently needs ...'. Ron Smith, Richmond Times-Dispatch 'This eclectic, thought-provoking volume is an important addition to the Cambridge series of Studies in Romanticism.' The Byron Journal