The quintessential depiction of the Byronic hero is accompanied in this edition by a substantial selection of contextual materials, including Byron’s original draft of the play’s conclusion; influences on the poem, such as Paradise Lost, Goethe’s Faust, and Vathek; further examples of the Byronic hero from the poet’s other writings; a selection of contemporary reviews; and an excerpt from Man-Fred, a dramatic parody in which the protagonist is reimagined as a chimney-sweep.

The play Manfred is one of Byron’s most famous and influential works. It established him throughout Europe as a bold, blasphemous genius. It inspired music by Tchaikovsky and Schumann, and was admired by, and influenced, Richard Wagner, whose uncle made one of its eighteen German translations. Going back to the primary manuscripts, Peter Cochran has created a new text of Manfred, so that it can at last be read as it left Byron’s pen, untouched by professional polishers, too anxious to impose a formal syntax on his fluent and spontaneous style. Cochran has – through a careful study of the original texts – decoded one hitherto-illegible note which throws light on Byron’s strange and elaborate demonology. Several essays cover the myriad sources of the play, and there are sections on its production history. Cochran ends with an amusing essay on how to, and how not to, bring Byron’s Manfred to the stage.

Manfred is a closet drama by Lord Byron. The main character is a Faustian noble man living in the Bernese Alps. Internally tortured by some mysterious guilt, which has to do with the death of his most beloved, Astarte, he uses his mastery of language and spell-casting to summon seven spirits, from whom he seeks forgetfulness. The spirits, who rule the various components of the corporeal world, are unable to control past events and thus cannot grant Manfred's plea. For some time, fate prevents him from escaping his guilt through suicide. Drama contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction.

Discover the beautiful stories of Michael Morpurgo, author of Warhorse and the nation’s favourite storyteller The heart-lifting, heartbreaking story by Michael Morpurgo, the nation’s favourite storyteller.

American frontiersman Hugh Glass, left to die in the hostile mountain wilderness, journeys two hundred miles in search of revenge