Fashion, self-fashioning and the body

Authors

• Laura J. George, Eastern Michigan University

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2019

Department/School

English Language and Literature

Publication Title

Byron in Context

Abstract

Throughout his brief life Lord Byron attracted the gazes of others – because he was disabled, because he was a lord, because he was a literary idol, because “at least a third part of the day, [he] was a dandy” (Stendhal quoted in HVSV 201), because he was fat, because he was thin, because of his beauty or because his appearance disappointed. Byron was surveyed, prepared himself to be surveyed and surveyed himself internally. His own self-fashioning, as author, as part-time dandy and as athlete (pugilist and swimmer especially), took place in the context of his experiences in his own body, but his self-fashioning takes place for us, above all, in his words.

Comments

L. J. George is a faculty member in EMU's Department of English Language and Literature.

Recommended Citation

George, L. J. (2019). Fashion, self-fashioning and the body. In C. Tuite (Ed.), Byron in context (pp. 131–140). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316850435.017