Manfred: A Broadview Anthology of British Literature Edition - Softcover

"With its incisive introduction, expertly annotated text, and exceptional roster of contextual materials (including rarely seen manuscript draft excerpts), this Broadview Manfred is an excellent teaching and reading edition of one of Byron's most influential works." -- Harriet Kramer Linkin, New Mexico State University "This edition of Manfred provides a teaching tool ideally suited to both undergraduate and graduate classrooms. The notes are clear and judicious, neither too many nor too few, and the introduction is a model of scholarship, offering vital information in clear prose. All in all, a welcome addition to the field." -- Emily Bernhard Jackson, University of Exeter "This edition will prove a gift to teachers and students alike interested in experiencing Byron's dark masterpiece of 'mental theater' in the contexts of the Byron-Shelley circle, the Gothic, Romantic Satanism, and Prometheanism, as well as the play's manuscript, reception, and theatrical histories. The accessible and lively introduction provides an engaging sketch of Byron's biography and prepares the reader to encounter the radical autonomy of the Byronic hero in this dramatic poem's exploration of isolation, incest, and irreligion." -- Dan White, University of Toronto "This lucidly annotated edition of Byron's Manfred, with essential documents reflecting the play's composition, literary antecedents, and reception, will give students just what they need to appreciate this rich and notoriously iconoclastic text." -- Alan Richardson, Boston College

A quintessential depiction of the Byronic hero, Byron's poetic drama Manfred centers on the interior sufferings of its psychologically tortured title character, who is haunted by the death of his forbidden lover. A radically autonomous figure, Manfred rejects help from other human beings, refuses Christian absolution, and disdains dark supernatural entities far more powerful than he is. Despite (or perhaps in part also because of) scandalous associations between the work and Byron's own tumultuous personal life, it was a considerable success from the start-and soon became far more than merely successful; Manfred exerted a powerful shaping force on the Romantic sensibility for decades after Byron's death. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature edition of Manfred is accompanied by a substantial selection of contextual materials including Byron's original draft of the play's conclusion; influences on the poem, such as Paradise Lost, Goethe's Faust, and Vathek; examples of the Byronic hero from the poet's other writings; a selection of contemporary reviews; and an excerpt from Man-Fred, a dramatic parody in which the protagonist is reimagined as a chimney-sweep.