Lord Byron’s journey across Portugal and Spain in 1809 inaugurated his experiences of and writings about foreign lands and, in particular, Mediterranean countries. This essay reappraises Byron’s figurations of Iberia as a nexus of places, texts, objects, and things in his letters, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, “A Very Mournful Ballad on the Siege and Conquest of Alhama,” and Don Juan. Focusing on how Iberian materialities—knives, castanets, guitars, mantillas, badges, and the Spanish Constitution of 1820—signify other geographies, histories, and cultures, this analysis opens up new insights into Byron’s Mediterranean imagination and his lifelong interest in words that are things.
Byron's Iberia: Places, Texts, Objects, and Things / Saglia, D.. - In: STUDIES IN ROMANTICISM. - ISSN 0039-3762. - 64:3(2025), pp. 235-263. [10.1353/srm.2025.a973150]
Byron's Iberia: Places, Texts, Objects, and Things
Saglia, Diego
2025-01-01
Abstract
Lord Byron’s journey across Portugal and Spain in 1809 inaugurated his experiences of and writings about foreign lands and, in particular, Mediterranean countries. This essay reappraises Byron’s figurations of Iberia as a nexus of places, texts, objects, and things in his letters, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, “A Very Mournful Ballad on the Siege and Conquest of Alhama,” and Don Juan. Focusing on how Iberian materialities—knives, castanets, guitars, mantillas, badges, and the Spanish Constitution of 1820—signify other geographies, histories, and cultures, this analysis opens up new insights into Byron’s Mediterranean imagination and his lifelong interest in words that are things.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
