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48-550: Both Byron's own persona as well as characters from his writings are considered to provide defining features to the character type. The Byronic hero first reached a very wide public in Byron's semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818). Despite Byron's clarifying Childe was a fictitious character in the preface of the work, "the public immediately associated Byron with his gloomy hero", with readers "convinced ... that Byron and Childe were one and

96-496: A "Tory Democrat" supporting Irish Home Rule at Camberwell North in 1885 and as a Liberal at Kidderminster in 1886 , where he lost by 285 votes. While in prison in Ireland, he contested a Deptford by-election in 1888, but lost by 275 votes. His most memorable line of poetry on the subject comes from Satan Absolved (1899), where the devil, answering a Kiplingesque remark by God, snaps back: "The white man's burden, Lord,

144-606: A 1906 biography of his father, Lord Randolph Churchill . Blunt had befriended him in 1883 at a chess tournament. In the early 1880s, Britain was increasing its influence in Egypt. It established a "veiled protectorate" through military occupation in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War . In the autumn of 1881, Wilfrid Blunt's ship ran aground in the Suez Canal. Rather than remain idle at Suez for a few days, Blunt visited friends in Cairo. It

192-502: A Byronic heroine in Byron's works. Charles J. Clancy argues that Aurora Raby in Don Juan possesses many of the characteristics typical of a Byronic hero. Described as "silent, lone" in the poem, her life has indeed been spent in isolation – she has been orphaned from birth. She validates Thorslev's assertion that Byronic heroes are "invariably solitaries". Yet, like her male counterpart, she evokes an interest from those around her, "There

240-445: A Personal Narrative of Events, 1888–1914 (2 vols. 1919–1920). Historian Robert O. Collins wrote, "The most vigorous English advocate of Egyptian nationalism, Blunt was both arrogant and irascible, his works scathing, discursive, and at times utterly ridiculous. Immature and unfair, both he and his writings must be used with caution, but even the dullest of men will come away stimulated if not aroused and with fresh insights to challenge

288-537: A cold and cynical veneer, above all enigmatic, in possession of a sinister secret." Different iterations of the Byronic Hero are also recognisable in pop culture. Many researchers have already connected the figure of the Byronic Hero to mainstream Hollywood characters: Christopher Nolan 's interpretation of Bruce Wayne as superhero vigilante Batman has been described as embodying “the dark side of human possibilities”, where his “moral code does not align with

336-451: A despair with humanity, not unlike the despair present in Byron's Cain , as Thorslev notes. She herself admits to despairing at "man's decline", therefore this brings her into direct comparison with Cain's horror at the destruction of humanity. [REDACTED] Category Autobiographical novel An autobiographical novel , also known as a autobiographical fiction , fictional autobiography , or autobiographical fiction novel ,

384-503: A fascination, as David admits in the aftermath of discovering what Steerforth has done to Emily. He may have done wrong, but David cannot bring himself to hate him. Steerforth's occasional outbreaks of remorse reveal a tortured character, echoing a Byronic remorse. Harvey concludes that Steerforth is a remarkable blend of both villain and hero, and exploration of both sides of the Byronic character. Scholars have also drawn parallels between

432-473: A serious interest in Islam and became immersed in its reformist strands. Blunt had supposedly become a convert to Islam under the influence of al-Afghani . He agreed before he died to see a priest, Fr Vincent McNabb , and receive Communion, so fulfilling a prediction of Sir William Henry Gregory , as recalled by his wife: "You will see Wilfrid will die with the wafer in his mouth." In 1882, Blunt championed

480-407: A villain—but he deem'd The rest no better than the thing he seem'd; And scorn'd the best as hypocrites who hid Those deeds the bolder spirit plainly did. He knew himself detested, but he knew The hearts that loath'd him, crouch'd and dreaded too. Lone, wild, and strange, he stood alike exempt From all affection and from all contempt: (I, XI) Admiration of Byron continued to be fervent in

528-414: Is a type of novel which uses autofiction techniques, or the merging of autobiographical and fictive elements. The literary technique is distinguished from a typical autobiography or memoir by being a work of fiction presented in the same fashion as a typical non-fiction autobiography by "imitating the conventions of an autobiography." Because an autobiographical novel is partially fiction,

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576-631: Is also featured in many contemporary novels, and has played a role in modern literature as the precursor to a popular form of antihero . Erik, the Phantom from Gaston Leroux 's Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910) is a well-known example from the first half of the twentieth century, while Ian Fleming 's James Bond (if not his cinematic incarnations) shows all the earmarks in the second half: "Lonely, melancholy, of fine natural physique, which has become in some way ravaged ... dark and brooding in expression, of

624-422: Is the burden of his cash." Here, Elizabeth Longford wrote, "Blunt stood Rudyard Kipling 's familiar concept on its head, arguing that the imperialists' burden is not their moral responsibility for the colonised peoples, but their urge to make money out of them." Edward Said mentions Blunt by name when describing late 19th and early 20th century Orientalist authors: "[he] believed his vision of things Oriental

672-693: Is untrue that "he was sent to notify Sir Edward Malet , the British agent, of Egyptian public opinion about the recent changes in government and development policies." Blunt was in Cairo by accident and, again by accident, met Sheikh al Jasraji, who was close to Ahmed 'Urabi . Blunt then met his old friend Malet, the British Consul General, and began to play the role of intermediary. In mid-December 1881, Blunt met with 'Urabi, known as Arabi or "El Wahid" (the Only One) due to his popularity with

720-851: The Earl of Lovelace and Ada Lovelace , and granddaughter of Lord Byron . Together the Blunts travelled through Spain, Algeria, Egypt, the Syrian Desert , and extensively in the Middle East and India. Based upon pure-blooded Arabian horses they obtained in Egypt and the Nejd , they co-founded Crabbet Arabian Stud . They later bought a property near Cairo named Sheykh Obeyd to house their horse-breeding operation in Egypt. As an adult Blunt became an atheist , though he underwent episodes of faith. His writings and some of his friendships show he gained

768-588: The British public because he was not considered a good poet, whereas Byron was considered one of the greatest British poets of all time. After the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War, Blunt was banned from Egypt, while Urabi was exiled to Ceylon. Blunt remained vigorously opposed to colonial expansion in Africa, writing three books outlining his views: The Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt... (1907), Gordon at Khartoum (1911), and My Diaries: Being

816-914: The Byronic Hero becomes an expression of masculinity that "is changed, repressed, and reformatted through the long nineteenth century". Byron's influence is manifest in many authors and artists of the Romantic movement and writers of Gothic fiction during the 19th century. Lord Byron was the model for the title character of Glenarvon (1816) by Byron's erstwhile lover Lady Caroline Lamb ; and for Lord Ruthven in The Vampyre (1819) by Byron's personal physician, John William Polidori . Edmond Dantes from Alexandre Dumas ' The Count of Monte Cristo (1844), Heathcliff from Emily Brontë 's Wuthering Heights (1847), and Rochester from Charlotte Brontë 's Jane Eyre (1847) are other later 19th-century examples of Byronic heroes. In later Victorian literature,

864-481: The Byronic character only seemed to survive as a solitary figure, resigned to suffering. However, Charles Dickens ' representation of the character is more complex than that. Steerforth in David Copperfield manifests the concept of the "fallen angel" aspect of the Byronic hero; his violent temper and seduction of Emily should turn the reader, and indeed David, against him. But it does not. He still retains

912-498: The Byronic hero and the so-called superfluous man , solipsist heroes of Russian literature. In particular, Alexander Pushkin 's famous character Eugene Onegin echoes many of the attributes seen in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage , such as solitary brooding and disrespect for traditional privilege. The first stages of Pushkin's poetic novel Eugene Onegin appeared twelve years after Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage , and Byron

960-442: The Byronic hero made an appearance in many of Byron's other works, including his series of poems on Oriental themes: The Giaour (1813), The Corsair (1814) and Lara (1814); and his closet play Manfred (1817). For example, Byron described Conrad, the pirate hero of his The Corsair (1814), as follows: That man of loneliness and mystery, Scarce seen to smile, and seldom heard to sigh— (I, VIII) and He knew himself

1008-484: The Egyptians. 'Urabi was impressed with Blunt's enthusiasm and appreciation of Egyptian culture . Blunt was under the influence of Afghani's disciple, Muhammad Abduh and had recently written some articles on the future of Islam. Their mutual respect helped 'Urabi to peacefully explain the reasoning behind his new Egyptian nationalist movement, "Egypt for the Egyptians". Over the course of several days, Arabi explained

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1056-509: The admiration of Byron as a character led some fans to emulate characteristics of the Byronic hero. Foremost was Wilfrid Scawen Blunt , who took the Byron cult to remarkable extremes. His marriage to Byron's granddaughter, taking a "Byron pilgrimage" around the Continent, and his anti-imperialist stance that saw him become an outcast just like his hero, cemented his commitment to emulating the Byronic character. For professor David Michael Jones,

1104-424: The assets" of the estate. The suit was settled in favour of the granddaughters in 1920 and Judith bought their share from the trustee, combining it with her own and reuniting the stud. Father and daughter briefly were reconciled shortly before Wilfrid Scawen Blunt's death in 1922, but his promise to rewrite his will to restore Judith's inheritance was not kept. Blunt was a friend of Winston Churchill , aiding him in

1152-484: The author does not ask the reader to expect the text to fulfill the "autobiographical pact". Names and locations are often changed and events are recreated to make them more dramatic but the story still bears a close resemblance to that of the author's life. While the events of the author's life are recounted, there is no pretense of exact truth. Events may be exaggerated or altered for artistic or thematic purposes. Novels that portray settings and/or situations with which

1200-731: The author is familiar are not necessarily autobiographical. Neither are novels that include aspects drawn from the author's life as minor plot details. To be considered an autobiographical novel by most standards, there must be a protagonist modeled after the author and a central plotline that mirrors events in their life. Novels that do not fully meet these requirements or are further distanced from true events are sometimes called semi-autobiographical novels . Many novels about intense, private experiences such as war , family conflict or sex , are written as autobiographical novels. Some works openly refer to themselves as " non-fiction novels ". The definition of such works remains vague. The term

1248-721: The cause of Urabi Pasha , which led to him being barred from Egypt for four years. Blunt was generally anti-imperialist as a matter of belief. His support for Irish independence led to imprisonment in 1888 for chairing an anti-eviction meeting in County Galway that had been banned by the Chief Secretary, Arthur Balfour . He was held in Galway Prison, then at Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin. Blunt's three attempts to enter Parliament were unsuccessful. He stood as

1296-466: The complicated background of the revolutionaries and their determination to rid themselves of the Ottoman oligarchy. Wilfrid Blunt was not vital in the relay of this information to the British Consul General in Egypt, as everybody in Egypt knew that the indigenous Egyptians resented foreigners – whether they were Muslim Turko-Circassian or Christian Greek, Italian or Armenian – who were growing rich while

1344-512: The desert near Cairo. The fox was chased into Blunt's garden, and the hounds and hunt followed it. As well as a house and garden, the land contained the Blunts' Sheykh Obeyd stud farm , housing a number of valuable Arabian horses . Blunt's staff challenged the trespassers – who, though army officers, were not in uniform – and beat them when they refused to turn back. For this, the staff were accused of assault against army officers and imprisoned. Blunt made strenuous efforts to free his staff, much to

1392-480: The last of my race, I must wither alone, And delight but in days, I have witness'd before: These lines echo William Wordsworth 's treatment of James Macpherson 's Ossian in "Glen-Almain" (1807): That Ossian, last of all his race! Lies buried in this lonely place. Thus Byron's poem seems to show that a brooding, melancholy influence not only from Wordsworth but also from Macpherson was very much on his mind at an early date. After Childe Harold's Pilgrimage ,

1440-543: The law.” Christian Bale 's portrayal of the character in the Dark Knight trilogy was described by Nolan as "exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for." The Star Wars franchise has also repeatedly dealt with themes of temptation and corruption relating to the central conflict between a "Light Side" and a "Dark Side", as embodied by the character of Anakin Skywalker. The undisputed villain of

1488-551: The management of her properties to Judith and spent many months of each year in Egypt at the Sheykh Obeyd estate, moving there permanently in 1915. Due primarily to Wilfrid's manœuvring to disinherit Judith and obtain the entire Crabbet property for himself, Judith and her mother were estranged at the time of Lady Anne's death in 1917. As a result, Lady Anne's share of the Crabbet Stud passed to Judith's daughters, under

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1536-532: The many works promoting his myth. The initial version of the type in Byron's work, Childe Harold, draws on a variety of earlier literary characters including Hamlet , Goethe 's Werther (1774), and William Godwin 's Mr. Faulkland in Caleb Williams (1794); he was also noticeably similar to René , the hero of Chateaubriand 's novella of 1802, although Byron may not have read this. Ann Radcliffe 's "unrepentant" Gothic villains (beginning in 1789 with

1584-574: The narrator or other characters. Byron would later attempt such a turn in his own life when he joined the Greek War of Independence , with fatal results, though recent studies show him acting with greater political acumen and less idealism than previously thought. The actual circumstances of his death from disease in Greece were unglamorous in the extreme, but back in England these details were ignored in

1632-533: The natives remained in poverty. Blunt felt he had been used by Malet and Auckland Colvin who were only pretending to be sympathetic to the Nationalists. However, Malet, Colvin, Evelyn Baring (Lord Cromer), and other British officials dismissed Blunt as a romantic idealist of a quixotic type. Indeed, his own claim to be for Arabs what Byron had been to the Greeks, was sufficient to make him utterly ridiculous to

1680-411: The original Star Wars trilogy achieves some sense of redemption when audiences get insight of the manipulation and mind control he became the victim of, which inevitably led him to become the infamous Darth Vader. This ambiguity and his close relationship with darkness (literal and figuratively) places him right in the centre of the Byronic Hero archetype. There are also suggestions of the potential of

1728-481: The oversight of an independent trustee. Blunt filed a lawsuit soon afterwards. Ownership of the Arabian horses went back and forth between the estates of father and daughter in subsequent years. Blunt sold more horses to pay off debts and shot at least four in an attempt to spite his daughter, an action which led to intervention of the trustee of the estate with a court injunction to prevent him from further "dissipating

1776-454: The publication of The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, a Highland Story ) also foreshadow a moody, egotistical Byronic "villain" nascent in Byron's own juvenilia , some of which looks back to Byron's Gordon relations, Highland aristocrats or Jacobites now lost between two worlds. For example, in Byron's early poem "When I Roved a Young Highlander" (1808), we see a reflection of Byron's youthful Scottish connection, but also find these lines: As

1824-437: The same". Byron's poems with Oriental settings show more " swashbuckling " and decisive versions of the type. Later works show Byron progressively distancing himself from the figure by providing alternative hero types, like Sardanapalus ( Sardanapalus ), Juan ( Don Juan ) or Torquil ("The Island"), or, when the figure is present, by presenting him as less sympathetic (Alp in " The Siege of Corinth ") or criticising him through

1872-541: The sometimes smug attitudes of British officials in Whitehall and Cairo. Of course, to them Blunt was anathema if not disloyal and Edward Mallet, the British Consul-General at Cairo from 1879 to 1883, replied to Blunt's charges in his posthumously published Egypt, 1879–1883 (London, 1909)." In 1901, a pack of foxhounds was shipped to Cairo to entertain the army officers. A fox hunt then took place in

1920-543: The time, Lady Anne signed a Deed of Partition drawn up by Wilfrid, under terms unfavourable to Lady Anne, whereby she kept the Crabbet Park property, where their daughter Judith lived, and half the horses, while Blunt took Caxtons Farm, also known as Newbuildings, and the rest of the stock. Always struggling with financial concerns and chemical dependency issues , Wilfrid sold off numerous horses to pay debts and constantly attempted to obtain additional assets. Lady Anne left

1968-458: The years following his death, despite claims from author Peter L. Thorslev that the literary culture of the Byronic Hero "died in England almost with Byron". Notable fans included Alfred Tennyson : fourteen at the time of Byron's death, and so grieved at the poet's passing, he carved the words "Byron is dead" on a rock near his home in Somersby, declaring the "world had darkened for him". However,

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2016-576: Was an English poet and writer. He and his wife Lady Anne Blunt travelled in the Middle East and were instrumental in preserving the Arabian horse bloodlines through their farm, the Crabbet Arabian Stud . He was best known for his poetry, which appeared in a collected edition in 1914, and also wrote political essays and polemics . He became additionally known for strongly anti-imperialist views that were still uncommon in his time. Blunt

2064-414: Was awe in the homage which she drew". Again, this is not dissimilar to the description of the fascination that Byron himself encountered wherever he went. Her apparent mournful nature is also reminiscent of the regretful mien of the Byronic hero. She is described as having deeply sad eyes, "Eyes which sadly shone, as Seraphs' shine". This was a specific characteristic of the Byronic hero. This seems to express

2112-748: Was first widely used in reference to the non-autobiographical In Cold Blood by Truman Capote but has since become associated with a range of works drawing openly from autobiography. The emphasis is on the creation of a work that is essentially true, often in the context of an investigation into values or some other aspect of reality. The books Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig and The Tao of Muhammad Ali by Davis Miller open with statements admitting to some fictionalising of events but state they are true "in essence". Wilfrid Scawen Blunt Wilfrid Scawen Blunt (17 August 1840 – 10 September 1922 ), sometimes spelt Wilfred ,

2160-635: Was individual, self-created out of some intensely personal encounter with the Orient, Islam, or the Arabs" and "expressed general contempt for official knowledge held about the East." Notably, Said marked Blunt as exceptional in not exhibiting most other Orientalists' "final...traditional Western hostility to and fear of the Orient." Wilfrid and Lady Anne's only child to reach maturity was Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth , later known as Lady Wentworth. She

2208-670: Was married in Cairo when she was an adult, but in 1904 she relocated permanently to the Crabbet Park Estate. Wilfrid had mistresses, including long-term relations with a courtesan, Catherine "Skittles" Walters , and a Pre-Raphaelite beauty, Jane Morris , the wife of his friend William Morris . He seduced and impregnated his cousin Mary Wyndham , having previously been the lover of her mother. Eventually he moved another mistress, Dorothy Carleton, into his home. This triggered Lady Anne's legal separation from him in 1906. At

2256-417: Was of obvious influence ( Vladimir Nabokov argued in his Commentary to Eugene Onegin that Pushkin had read Byron during his years in exile just prior to composing Eugene Onegin ). The same character themes continued to influence Russian literature, particularly after Mikhail Lermontov invigorated the Byronic hero through the character Pechorin in his 1839 novel A Hero of Our Time . The Byronic hero

2304-584: Was the son of Francis Scawen Blunt, of Crabbet, by his wife Mary Chandler. Blunt was born at Petworth House in Sussex, home of his aunt's husband Baron Leconfield . He served in the Diplomatic Service 1858–1869. He was raised in the faith of his mother, a Catholic convert, and educated at Twyford School , Stonyhurst , and at St Mary's College, Oscott . He was a cousin of Lord Alfred Douglas . In 1869 Blunt married Lady Anne Noel , daughter of

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