Callaghan, M. orcid.org/0000-0002-5274-3549 (2024) Byron as others. The Byron Journal, 52 (1). pp. 65-80. ISSN 0301-7257
Abstract
This article argues that sympathy is the radical heart of Byron’s poetry. For sympathy, possible via the imagination for David Hume and Adam Smith, allows Byron to be someone else as far as that is possible, withal Smith’s caveats. This article posits that Byron’s potential doubles are not poor caricatures that see the Romantic poet throwing his voice. Instead, Byron creates performances that explore and exploit the limits of sympathy. Such limits co-exist with potential. And for Byron, sympathy is not an unmitigated good. Through sympathy, we might ignore our professed values or extend our sympathy to those for whom we should not feel. Byron’s sympathy opens him up to becoming other people to some degree, to living other lives, and inhabiting other selves. Byron shows us that sympathy, like selfhood, is slippery. This article argues that Byron makes us rethink sympathy and its value.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Authors. Except as otherwise noted, this author-accepted version of a journal article published in The Byron Journal is made available via the University of Sheffield Research Publications and Copyright Policy under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of English (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 19 Jul 2024 09:25 |
Last Modified: | 19 Jul 2024 09:25 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Liverpool University Press |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3828/bj.2024.8 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:214950 |