Lady Caroline Lamb A Biography

Lady Caroline Lamb , among Lord Byron's many lovers, stands out - vilified, portrayed as a self-destructive nymphomaniac - her true story has never been told. Now, Paul Douglass provides the first unbiased treatment of a woman whose passions and independence were incompatible with the age in which she lived. Taking into account a traumatic childhood, Douglass explores Lamb's so-called 'erotomania' and tendency towards drug abuse and madness - problems she and Byron had in common. In this portrait, she emerges as a person who sacrificed much for the welfare of a sick child, and became an artist in her own right. Douglass illuminates her novels and poetry, her literary friendships, and the lifelong support of her husband and her publisher, John Murray.

Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Preface A Child of the Mist Growing Pains Coming Out Marriage Parenthood Indiscretions Byron Ireland Medea and Her Dragons Playing Byron The Music of Glenarvon Politics and Satire A Book to Offend Nobody: Graham Hamilton The Last Novel: Ada Reis Death of Byron Exile Rational and Quiet Epilogue Appendix: Who's Who Appendix: Genealogy Appendix: Brief Chronology Works Cited: Short Citation List Notes Index

PAUL DOUGLASS is Professor of English and American Literature at San Jose State University, USA, where for six years he chaired the department. He is the author of Bergson, Eliot, and American Literature (1986), and the editor (with Frederick Burwick) of The Crisis in Modernism (1992) and A Selection of Hebrew Melodies, Ancient and Modern, by Isaac Nathan and Lord Byron, a facsimile edition (1988). His essays and reviews have appeared in Keats-Shelley Journal, European Romantic Review, The Byron Journal, and Newstead Abbey Byron Society Review.