The period in which Byron was writing was a time of great advances in science and medicine, and Byron followed them with interest. When diagnosing and treating their patients, the physician of this period had identified a new illness that overtook fevers as the most common disease of the age, replacing them with the broad category of ‘nervous disorder,’ that Thomas Trotter would claim in 1809 to have afflicted ‘two thirds of the whole’ of ‘civilised society.’ The nosology of the nervous disorder is interesting due to the inclusion and often focus upon symptoms less cerebral and more gastric; biliousness, indigestion and gout were all classified under the ‘nervous’ umbrella. This was something that interested Byron, and he specifically requested writing on the subject to be sent to him. Physicians warned against all aspects of life that may trigger a nervous complaint, particularly focusing on what a patient takes in: what they read, what they eat, and even the air they breathe. Beyond his awareness of, and curiosity about, the medical advances of the day, Byron’s personal interest in the issue of the nervous disorder is evident in his poetry. The talk will discuss my research so far on Byron and how he engaged with the medical landscape of his time.

Lucy Davies is a postgraduate researcher at the University of Lancaster.

‘I have a thorough aversion to his character and a very moderate admiration of his genius; he is great in so little a way’ (Charles Lamb to Joseph Cottle, May 26^th 1820). Lamb’s takedown of Byron seems uncompromising, but what can we gain from putting the two authors in conversation? In this lecture, co-hosted with the Charles Lamb Society, Matthew Ward will tackle the prickly question of variance. His lecture will think both about textual variants, and about the potentially differing views of archival material offered by Byron and Lamb. What does each writer make of or feel about manuscripts, and what are we to make of theirs? In what ways are Byron and Lamb at variance with each other? And how might those apparent differences lead to or reveal a strange sort of resemblance or likeness in their writing?

The theme of the 2027 Newstead Conference is Byron and Identity. The conference will take place at Newstead Abbey, from 23–24 April 2027, and will include a dinner on the evening of the 23rd and a tour of Newstead Abbey or its Gardens on the 24th.

The keynote will be delivered by Dr Gerard McKeever, titled ‘Borrowing Byron from the Library’

‘Changeable too, yet somehow “Idem semper”’ (Don Juan, XVII.11). The concept of identity suggests stability, lasting self-sameness. And yet, Byron’s proclamation of being ‘idem semper’—‘always the same’—somehow includes changeability. Byron’s version of the Ship of Theseus paradox points to a problem at the heart of the idea of identity: how can something, or someone, stay the same if everything is in flux? Identity’s supposed elimination of differences is further complicated by its fragmentation into various, at times competing, forms, which are seldom stable: comprising personal and professional constructions, as well as questions of nationality, sexuality, political leanings and authorial style, identity invoked mutability in Byron’s own times no less than in ours. The chameleonic poet was intimately aware of the innate mutability of identity, playfully shaping and reshaping his personal and poetic identities as he engaged with (and disengaged from) different audiences. This ‘mobilité’, to use a Byronic term, perhaps lies at the heart of his enduring popularity—yet it also forms the crux of many attacks against Byron and his works by past and present critics.

‘Byron and Identity’ CFP coming soon

We will also be offering two student travel bursaries available. Further details are available on the call for papers page (link above).

Conference details

Programme details will be available shortly

Transport during the conference

We will provide buses to:

• Travel Lodge, from Newstead Abbey
• Newstead Abbey, from Travel Lodge
• Portland College, from Newstead Abbey
• Travel Lodge, from Portland College
• Newstead Abbey, from Travel Lodge

Registration will be open in 2027