Have you ever imagined your favourite authors having a dinner party together? As a literature student, it is my pride and joy to elaborate my view on how a literary dinner evening would develop.
To begin with, who would book the table? Well, as the king of hearts and of social events, there is no one other than Lord Byron that I could imagine as more willing to organize a dinner and book a table at a fancy restaurant with an extensive wine bar. He would most likely prepare a curated menu without asking anyone in advance, simply ordering his favourite red meat for everyone and a good French red wine to go with it. As it is natural, he would probably invite his partner in crime, Percy B. Shelley, along with his wife Mary Shelley, who would most likely be rolling her eyes at their jokes and zoning out in hopes that the evening will go by quickly.
Byron would not miss his opportunity in inviting one of the most influential women of his time, so I am very sure that Jane Austen would make top of the guest list, although I doubt she would pay any attention to Byron or his companions. In fact, Jane Austen seems like she would be capable of showing the perfect mixture of manners and distance, showing a cold politeness towards her acquaintances but not missing the opportunity to talk to them, not because she is interested, but because she is curious.
If we were to think Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe had been invited (and found it in them to go all the way to England), I actually believe they would have had the time of their lives, and not only because they could bond over their eerie ways of story-telling. In fact, I believe they would have had the most fun with Ann Radcliff — I could see them as being the golden trio of the night.
However, I could not say the same for Spanish author Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, who, imagining he would have had to leave Spain to attend the dinner, would probably regret having done so the second he sat next to Byron and Shelley. He would most likely try to engage in conversation with Mary Shelley, and they would end up yapping for the rest of the night, until they would have to be told that the restaurant is closing.
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