A Woman to Know: Claire Claremont
But in our family, if you cannot write an epic or novel, that by its originality knocks all other novels on the head, you are a despicable creature, not worth acknowledging. — Claire Claremont
But in our family, if you cannot write an epic or novel, that by its originality knocks all other novels on the head, you are a despicable creature, not worth acknowledging. — Claire Claremont
(image via Wikimedia Commons)
Claire had one of the most famous stepsisters of all time (Mary Shelley, author of Gothic delights) and kept one of the most famous lovers of all time (Lord Byron, author of every poem you had to read in high school English class). But while Ms. Shelley and Lord Byron went down in history as literary luminaries, Claire herself lived on as a mere footnote in their biographies.
As a teenager, Claire counted Mary as one of her best friends, and together the two moody girls palled around with the notorious group of debauched (and much older) Romantic writers. The group included Percy Shelley, Mary’s future husband, and Lord Byron, who would eventually father Claire’s only child. Claire herself organized the famous Lake Geneva writing party of 1816, the site of the contest that eventually inspired Mary to write the beginnings of her most famous work, Frankenstein.
While 17-year-old Mary went on to marry Percy and live out her own writing dreams, Claire withered in the shadow of her famous friends’ careers. She lived with Percy and Mary, unwed and pregnant with Lord Byron’s child. She waited for the legendary poet to make an honest women of her, but as he wrote to friends, “I never loved her nor pretended to love her, but a man is a man — & if a girl of eighteen comes prancing to you at all hours — there is but one way.”
When she gave birth to their daughter, Allegra, Claire held out hope the new baby could finally bring her beloved back to her. But instead, Lord Byron sent the “brat” to live at a convent, hiding the location from Claire. Distraught, Claire plotted to discover the whereabouts of her daughter and kidnap her in the night; but then Lord Byron revealed Allegra had died at the age of 5.
Claire never recovered. She found work as a music teacher and a governess, living sporadically with the Shelleys or with her brother Charles. At the age of 70, she took it upon herself to write her life story, unleashing her hatred of Lord Byron on the page. But she died at age 80 — having outlived the other Romantics from that famous group — before she could ever publish her memoir.
Add to your library list:
The Journals of Claire Claremont (Claire Claremont)
Young Romantics (Daisy Hay)
Claire Claremont and the Shelleys (Robert Gittings)
Read more:
Byron’s lover takes revenge from the grave (The Guardian)
An Affair to Remember (The New York Review of Books)
Claire Claremont Manuscript Material (The New York Public Library)
Lake Geneva as Byron and Shelley Knew It (The New York Times)
Women Who Should Be Pretty Pissed Off: Frankenstein’s Stepsister (McSweeney’s)
Watch more:
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