2024
Winner of the Elma Dangerfield Prize, 2024

In this groundbreaking study, Richard Cronin presents Byron's Don Juan as the definitive epic poem of the 19th century. Cronin explores how this masterpiece reflects an era characterized more by periodicals than by traditional epics like Wordsworth's Excursion or Southey's Joan of Arc. He examines the poem's form, choice of hero, and its controversial reception, while also analyzing its interactions with contemporary works and its lasting influence on 19th-century literature. Cronin argues that Don Juan perfectly encapsulates an age of disconnection between people's feelings and their lived experiences, offering a powerful defense of liberal thinking during a time of ideological threats. This comprehensive analysis, the first in over three decades, illuminates not just Byron's work but the entire literary landscape of the 19th century through the lens of this singular poem.

2024
In this innovative biography, Lord Byron's life unfolds through his own words, drawn from his vast collection of letters. Each chapter begins with Byron's voice, as if opening a personal missive from the poet himself, followed by a vivid exploration of the emotions and experiences revealed. This approach offers an intimate glimpse into the life of the celebrated Romantic poet - troubled, handsome, sexually fluid, disabled, and transgressive. The book traces Byron's meteoric rise to international fame and scandal, his eventual quest for redemption in the Greek Revolution, and his enduring influence on art and culture. Published to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Byron's death, this gripping account presents a fresh perspective on the brilliant poet who shook the world.

2024
"Percy Shelley for Our Times" offers a fresh perspective on the enduring relevance of the Romantic poet's work. This collection reveals Shelley as a visionary who addressed issues still pertinent today, including climate change, gender identity, political activism, and social justice. The book argues that Shelley's approach transcends mere prophecy or protest, instead creating a poetics of relationality that envisions connections across time and space.
Moving beyond traditional historicist or presentist readings, the contributors demonstrate how Shelley's work anticipates and speaks to diverse communities, from Indigenous and queer/trans groups to disabled and working-class audiences. They argue that Shelley's methodology allows for a reimagining of community and contemporaneity that resonates powerfully in our current era. This study challenges the notion of Shelley as merely an idealistic young rebel, presenting instead a sophisticated writer whose work continues to inspire artists and activists worldwide. By exploring Shelley's ability to conceive worlds beyond his own time and place, this collection offers a revitalized understanding of his poetry and its ongoing significance in shaping our understanding of community and the contemporary.

2023
Nominee for the Elma Dangerfield Prize, 2023

In "Romantic Realities: Speculative Realism and British Romanticism," John O. Havard explores the intersection of political change and apocalyptic thinking in late Romantic literature. Focusing on works by Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, and their contemporaries, the book examines how these authors envisioned various forms of endings - from fallen empires to extinct populations. These literary explorations challenged prevailing liberal political ideologies and imagined new political landscapes emerging from destruction. Travisano argues that by intertwining political and cosmic apocalypses, these writers questioned established governance structures and contemplated radical new possibilities. The book draws parallels between these Romantic-era concerns and our current era, where political upheaval and environmental crises similarly converge, lending these historical literary explorations a renewed relevance and urgency.

January 2019
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"Dear Mr Murray" offers a captivating glimpse into the rich history of the John Murray publishing house, spanning over 250 years. This collection of letters, culled from the vast John Murray Archive, unveils the intricate relationships between authors, publishers, and readers that shaped literary history. From Charles Darwin's response to criticism of "On the Origin of Species" to Byron's indignant accusations of forgery, these correspondences reveal the human side of literary giants. The book showcases not only the triumphs but also the tribulations of the publishing world, including Jane Austen's concerns about printing delays and Patrick Leigh Fermor's pleas for solitude to complete his work. Illustrated with reproductions of original letters and envelopes, "Dear Mr Murray" offers a unique, intimate perspective on the evolution of literature and publishing, making it an essential read for book enthusiasts and history buffs alike.

This work argues that there are traces of Sufism to be found in British Romanticism. Most scholars of Romanticism have overlooked the impact of Sufism on Romanticism in favour of Christian and neo-Platonic Mysticism, but this work fills in this gap by showing the magnitude of the influence of Sufism on the Romantics without negating the influence of other -isms. What elements of Sufism attracted the attention of the Romantics? And why were the Romantics attracted more to Sufism and Sufi poets than to Christian Mysticism and Mystic poets?

Professor Itsuyo Higashinaka published the Japanese edition (translation) of Lord Byron’s Don Juan in two volumes comprising 1,092 pages.

He began his intensive reading, research, and translation of Don Juan at the turn of century. After about twenty years of hard work, the translation, which include enlightening notes, was published by Mr. Takashi Yamaguchi, president of Otowashoboh-Tsurumi Shoten, in Tokyo, Japan. Besides the outstanding translations of Byron’s seventeen cantos, Professor Higashinaka inserted relevant illustrations in the first volume; and in the second, he appended a Byron chronology and summaries of the cantos.

We, all members of the Japanese Byron Society, believe that this work is a culmination of Byron studies in Japan. We are absolutely confident that his unprecedented Japanese translation of Don Juan will promote Byron studies among younger generations in our country.

Ever since his childhood and adolescence and before he became a legendary poet, George Gordon Noel, sixth Baron Byron, felt the sense of escaping from the anxieties of his traumatic present to the glorious worlds of Eastern history and mythology. In Eastern mythology, which he read and loved, Byron approached his own utopia and dystopia without distancing himself from current world affairs. He heard the voice of mythology in various forms: in Nature and its animate and inanimate elements, in nightingales, eagles, roses, trees, bushes, mountains, plains, oceans, stones, and rocks, and in ancient relics, among others. Nature and the ruins of the past spoke to him more truth about God, Man, and Nature than religion and history books. His immediate impressions while being on-the-spot, his mobility, his standing on the borderlines of fact and fiction, and his extensive references to Eastern mythology in his works, created a Byronic myth and enhanced the mythical quality of his works, especially Don Juan, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Cantos I and II, and his Oriental Tales—The Giaour, The Bride of Abydos, The Corsair, and The Siege of Corinth. Lord Byron became an archetype of a legendary celebrity, and his works and some of his characters, especially his Byronic Heroes and Heroines, became universal mythical characters. Among several questions, the book answers two major ones: First, how does Byron use Eastern mythology, including Greek, Persian, and Arabian in the above-mentioned works to render his own poetry mythological? And second, how do his personal affairs and mythological works contribute to the generation of the still living Byronic myth?