The Missolonghi Manuscript

After the deluding "Nine days to Mukalla" I decided to read one of Prokosch's books that has been translated into Italian, assuming that generally books that get translated are deemed good. To my great surprise, The manuscript of Missolonghi, is a deep, fascinanting, even if sometimes over the lines work. It was written in 1968 when the Byron mania wasn't yet at it peak, so it has a naive flavour in the way it approaches this great discussed romantic hero. Like The Memories of Hadrian by Yourcenar it is the author's intepretation of Lord Byron and many of the facts reported are not correct. Faux memoire books sometimes have these defects, but nonetheless are generally not burdened by this handicap. In this work Prokosch, that loved forgery, probably gave his best interpretation. He has the excuse of forging a manuscript! And how he does it! The action develops on two different time levels: the present at Missolonghi where Byron awaits his military action to liberate Greece, and the past with the description of all his troubled and hectic life. The time levels come together as death finally tacitates the writer. During all the recollection of his life Byron/Prokosch thinks over his sexuality, his women, his poetry, his life habits, his friends. We meet Augusta, the sister-lover, Claire, Teresa the italian almost-wife, the Shelley's, Trelawny, Polidori, Pietro Gamba, Maurocordato and others and we get to know them. One scene of the book remained particularly impressed in my imagination. The one dealing with the death of Shelly, and his burial. It is strong, realistic and deeply impressive. Some critics said the writing is un-Byronish, but I didn't have this impression. I found much of Byron's wit and courage, and much of his folly in Prokosch's interpretation. What is evident is that the book is written by a poet that highlights apparently unimportant facts, that however build the story. I believe this work will survive its time and maybe become a classic.