Live Byron

Abstract

‘Live Byron’ discusses the ‘live’ and singular performances of shipwrecks by Byron and the painter Géricault in 1819. Reactions to Byron’s treatment of a fatal shipwreck in the first instalment of his serial poem Don Juan are assessed alongside reactions to Géricault’s oil painting The Raft of the Medusa, which was simultaneously on show at the Egyptian Hall in London. The chapter analyses the strong sentiments of disgust elicited by both works, concluding that it is both their reference to a ‘real’ news item and their creation of virtual bodies to represent catastrophic death that triggered such strong critical reactions. Through the experiences of their viewers, panoramas and shows in this early period are reconceptualized as ‘live’ performances which demanded an interactive and participative engagement and which contributed to the formation of a popular consciousness of existing in a simultaneous historic present.