Roman à Clef: GLENARVON, by Lady Caroline Lamb

This type of story has been around a long time. Who knows, Chaucer might have pilloried people in his life, presenting them as characters on pilgrimage in the Canterbury Tales. Romans à clef are pretty much guaranteed best-sellers when penned by someone famous, as not only the general public goes for it, but everyone in the writer’s circle buys a copy in order to see if they are in the book.

Lady Caroline Lamb was just such a one.  Her life was more like a novel than her novel; raised haphazardly in a very, ah, unconventional household, though her family was part of the highest rank short of royalty, she and the various household children pretty much ran wild until they hit their teens, at which time they were rounded up, polished up, and presented to society. Caro was high strung and romantic, and it seems she did her best to live her life as a heroine of a novel. Including catching the roving eye of Lord Byron. Their affair was short-lived, but Caro managed to make a publicity event of its twists and turns, and once Byron made it plain that “No meant no,” she took up the pen.

As a novel, Glenarvon pretty much stinks. But as a roman a clef, it’s great! Caro was angry enough to pillory Byron–and the rest of society, too–in this novel that not only contains a couple of his dumpage letters verbatim, but features Caro as a double Mary Sue.

Yes, she couldn’t seem to decide which Wronged Heroine type to be, so she puts herself in as both the fainting angel of a heroine who swans beautifully to death, surrounded by anxious loved ones who have absolutely nothing to do but wring their hands over her until her affecting death bed scene, and the galloping, fearless pistoleer heroine who rides over a cliff to her death. But that leaves modern audiences sorry for the horse.

The novel pissed off just about everybody, and nearly tanked Caro’s long-suffering husband’s political  career–but it didn’t, and he went on to jolly Princess Victoria into queenship. (As queen, Victoria eventually read it, after Melbourne–Lamb’s title then–resigned from his post as Prime Minister)