Conversations with Lord Byron on Perversion, 163 Years after His Lordship's Death

by Amanda Prantera

New Atheneum,, 1987.. Fine in fine dust jacket.. First US printing. A witty and elegant novel, this is an account of a perhaps surprisingly sucessful experiment with Artificial Intelligence, in which everything known about the romantic poet was fed into a computer in an attempt to uncover the real truth about his life. 174 pp.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Gwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

HERE BE SPOILERS

Prantera has a knack for pretty phrasing.

Yes, that's the one good thing I can say about this book.

Of course, the premise is sweet enough: modernish (1987) researchers load up an AI computer with every available bit of information on Byron, and after a bit of programming wizardry, the computer (henceforth called LB) takes it upon himself to pick up the pieces and complete the code.

But then things become muzzy. The researchers call in an able bodied young scholar who serves no purpose other than to be an authorial stand-in. A Mary Sue. And get this: she falls in love with LB, the computer, as he spews loopy messages onto serrated Z-fold copy paper. (I can only be grateful it wasn't written in the days of USB-powered vibrators.)

The researchers proceed to monkey with the parameters on LB's sexuality, and the scholar poses obtuse questions about John Edleston and Byron's Cambridge years. Meanwhile, readers are privy to the machine's innermost thoughts related to said topics.

And things become even muzzier. After a long (but occasionally engaging) buildup, it's revealed that Edleston is in fact a woman. Ah, so that's why Byron loved the poor choirperson: he was a she, and Byron's internal cartwheels over whether he could love a boy were actually moot from the get-go. Enter Mary Sue 2. John/Alba is also a prominent member of one of Europe's foremost royal families (which goes casually unnamed), and after an unfortunate series of events, Byron books it to the Continent in 1809 (true) while a band of assassins pursues hot on his tail.

I suddenly wish this could be made into a movie. I'm thinking Bruce Willis, or I don't know, maybe Cuba Gooding Jr. in the lead. They'd have to change the ending, naturally -- a freak lightning storm fries the system and magically grants LB the power to blast his way out of the past. Then he'd knock boots with the scholar, move to LA, and develop a coke addiction. (It's still 1987, isn't it?) Maybe he could also fight a reincarnated Shelley-vampire (Ben Affleck) or something.

Michael Bay, I'm looking in your direction.

Did I mention the scholar falls in love with the computer?

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a post-modernist mishmash, my biggest problem with it was the fact that the answer to the readers questions about perversion are never answered by "LB" or the authoress.

[Isadora Wagner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it.