In my innocence (oh, by the way, I've managed to figure out how to join the
group now, so no more naughty crossposting needed) I was quite unaware of
how infuriating the topic of Byron's incest has become for students - a
King Charles' head, or a Baconian theory. Now that I know more, I'm not
surprised that Douglas instantly accused me of "incest-hunting" - and
exactly the same thing happened on a Byron discussion group. In fact I have
no interest whatsoever in Byron's life, and wanted (but have yet to
receive) information on a purely literary question relating to "The
Corsair", which I think a very fascinating poem. While the much-repeated
advice to "Start with Don Juan and don't expect too much from the rest" has
formidable support from Auden, Schmidt, etc, such orthodoxies can become
stifling - if only because Don Juan is just too enormous and (let's be
honest) shapeless - few, I suspect, ever get beyond such a monster at the
threshold. It reminds me that some who found The Faerie Queene a massive
bore eventually persuaded themselves to ignore Lewis, Kermode etc and
discovered a Spenser much more relevant to their concerns in what used to
be called "The Minor Poems".
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