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I read about half, was overwhelmed by other commitments and gave it
up, partly because it is not literary, and like other of Fraser's many
biographies of aristocratic women (one on Oliver Cromwell) I wondered
if the interpretation was subtly or just plain wrong. You do come away
with information. Thank you for telling us. Today she'd be famous
because she's famous, the equivalent of a once-daytime TV star.

The Sylph is by Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. I'm convinced of it
and so too her official standard biographer. She herself gambled
ludicrously -- and her husband -- losing astounding amounts. Hers is
only one of several novels (in the Jacobean era it was written about
in plays -- where sometimes the bully is the king) where she shows a
husband bullying a wife into having sex with the man they owe money
to. That is what is threatened in Henry Esmond. It's not a question of
debt but blackmail. Mohun knows the 4th Viscount, husband of Rachel
(her children not his) is not the heir to the 3rd Viscount but young
Henry is. So he demands Rachel go off with him and she refuses.

Thackeray had read deeply and himself came from a subset of these
people, a colonial subset. The difference is he was a moral kindly man
- like Dobbin. our Henry Esmond -- also very intellectual

NB: THis book should be of interest to those who want to know Jane
Austen's aristocratic world -- and Byron's

Ellen


On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 9:54?AM Tyler Tichelaar via groups.io
<tyler@...> wrote:

I just finished reading Antonia Fraser's biography of Lady Caroline Lamb which Ellen brought to my attention some time ago.

I did not realize or had forgotten she wrote two more novels after Glenarvon, both of which sound fascinating.

But I bring her up because some years ago we read some of Edward Bulwer-Lytton and Rosina Bulwer's works. Bulwer-Lytton was a great admirer of Lamb and wanted to be her lover but they only had a platonic friendship. It turns out she went to literary social evenings with Rosina and introduced her to Bulwer-Lytton. And so we have the woman in the stormy love affair with Lord Byron introducing the couple who would have probably the most famous stormy literary marriage of the 19th century with Bulwer-Lytton locking his wife up in an asylum and his wife threatening to throw eggs at Queen Victoria when she attended one of her plays.

The biography itself was not long - less than 200 pages. I was surprised it was so short and also to find there have been many biographies written about her. It was not overly interested in literary criticism of her novels, mostly just briefly summarizing them. I hope to read the other two novels - Ada Reis is set in South America and features a slave who makes a bargain with an evil spirit, and Graham Hamilton is a satire on the Whig society that Lamb was part of - she was niece to Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire, a leading member of the Whig circle and also the possible author of the anonymous novel, The Sylph.

Tyler

I haven't read the biography of lady Caroline Lamb s do not know which
version of her life they portray. We read Glenarvon as a group, once.It
needed a good editor.Most who managed to get through the book agreed that
it didn't succeed in making Glenarvon a bad guy. The so called heroine
was such an unlikeable character the people she disliked looked good.
Her books were not published for merit but because her name was known. I do
not know the method she chose to publish but if she paid the costs, then
all the profits were hers. She said she wrote Glenarvon in a month. I wish
I had the facility.
I have never been interested in her other books.
After the publication of Glenarvon, she was banned from Almacks -- which
made her a social outcast-- her husband separated from her-- she mixed with
writers, went to Paris -- met WEllington who tried to intercede on her
behalf ( he had more success against Napoleon than the leaders of
society Lamb had offended.) She died after she had seen Byron's cortege .
her husband never remarried. He had a couple of suits against him by
aggrieved husbands but nothing could be proven. He was Prime Minister
Melbourne when Victoria took the therone and was her favorite advisor
until she married.
In the field of literature, she should be no more than a footnote. It is
only her social prominence and her connection with Lord Byron that keep
Lady Caroline's name before the public.
Nancy

I more or less agree, Nancy. Where she has importance for us is as a
somewhat atypical aristocratic woman of her time.

Ellen

On Fri, Dec 13, 2024 at 12:54?PM Nancy Mayer via groups.io
<regencyresearcher@...> wrote:

I haven't read the biography of lady Caroline Lamb s do not know which
version of her life they portray. We read Glenarvon as a group, once.It
needed a good editor.Most who managed to get through the book agreed that
it didn't succeed in making Glenarvon a bad guy. The so called heroine
was such an unlikeable character the people she disliked looked good.
Her books were not published for merit but because her name was known. I do
not know the method she chose to publish but if she paid the costs, then
all the profits were hers. She said she wrote Glenarvon in a month. I wish
I had the facility.
I have never been interested in her other books.
After the publication of Glenarvon, she was banned from Almacks -- which
made her a social outcast-- her husband separated from her-- she mixed with
writers, went to Paris -- met WEllington who tried to intercede on her
behalf ( he had more success against Napoleon than the leaders of
society Lamb had offended.) She died after she had seen Byron's cortege .
her husband never remarried. He had a couple of suits against him by
aggrieved husbands but nothing could be proven. He was Prime Minister
Melbourne when Victoria took the therone and was her favorite advisor
until she married.
In the field of literature, she should be no more than a footnote. It is
only her social prominence and her connection with Lord Byron that keep
Lady Caroline's name before the public.
Nancy