Byron and homosexuality

Byron and homosexuality, a talk by Franco Buffoni

on Thursday 23 January at 4:45 p.m.

In this presentation, which is preceded by a showing of a video recorded for “RAI Educational”, Franco Buffoni will discuss how Lord Byron’s image as a womanizer, widespread in Eighteenth and Nineteenth century literature, is born from a deep sense of mystification. The author himself needed this archetype as a kind of legitimate defence during the period in which homosexual acts could result in a prison sentence, and following the poet’s death, his editor John Murray carried out a similar act with the famous bonfire in Albemarle Street upon which he burnt all manuscripts that could compromise the already disgraced reputation of the poet.

Please note that this event will be in Italian.

Admission is Free but booking is required due to the limited number of spaces (write to info@keats-shelley-house.org). Entry from 4:30 p.m. onwards.

Franco Buffoni published Suora carmelitana (1997), Il profilo del Rosa (2000), Guerra (2005), Noi e loro (2008). The Oscar Mondadori Poesie 1975-2012 rcontains his poetic corpus. With Jucci (2014) he won the Viareggio Prize. Other works that followed were Avrei fatto la fine di Turing (2015), the theatre play Personae (2017), La linea del cielo (2018), Betelgeuse e altre poesie scientifiche (2021). He is the author of the novels Zamel (2009), Il servo di Byron (2012), La casa di via Palestro (2014), Il racconto dello sguardo acceso (2016), Due Pub, tre poeti e un desiderio (2019), Silvia è un anagramma (2020), Vite negate (2021), Il Gesuita (2023). His website is www.francobuffoni.it