(H/B) ATHENS: ITS RISE AND FALL

Παρουσίαση

On the occasion of Edward Bulwer Lytton's 200th birthday in May 2003, scholars and enthusiasts from around the world gathered at the author's home, Knebworth House, in Hertfordshire. In the dusty light of Bulwer Lytton's Jacobean-panelled hall; beneath the frieze painting of his declaration that under this "old roof tree" there be "worth in all, wit in some, laughter open, slander dumb"; in accents American, Italian, German, Dutch, and the occasional English; and in hallmark sentences even longer than this one- favourite passages of Bulwer Lytton were performed with such warmth and enthusiasm that the continuing influence of this great Victorian was firmly and reassuringly established in the twenty-first century. It was a splendid event. We marvelled at plays, poetry, short stories, novels of all genres, philosophical tracts, literary criticism, political speeches, social histories, ancient histories. The diversity of Bulwer Lytton's contribution to Victorian literature was cited as the one and only reason he is not today feted as a genius in any one of these fields. (. . .) (from the publisher)