Volume 15, Number 7 · October 22, 1970
The Craving Void
By V.S. Pritchett
Lord Byron's Cain: Twelve Essays and a Text with Variants and Annotations
by Truman Guy Steffan
University of Texas, 510 pp., $15.00
The Uninhibited Byron
by Bernard Grebanier
Crown, 354 pp., $7.50
Byron: A Portrait
by Leslie A. Marchand
Knopf, 576 pp., $12.95
'The great object of life,' Byron wrote, 'is sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain. It is this 'craving void' which drives us to gaming—to battle, to travel—to intemperate, but keenly felt, pursuits of any description, whose principal attraction is to the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.' And Stendhal confirmed him when he said that an age of revolutions and wars gives a 'continual thirst for strong emotions. When they subside for a while, boredom follows until they rise again.' We are enough in the same situation today to make an interest in Byron revive.
Review, 1856 words
To read the full text of this piece, please choose one of the following options:
|
If you are already a subscriber to the Review's electronic edition, please sign in: |
To subscribe to the electronic edition, please press the button below. |
To purchase access to this article for $3, please press the button below. |