Reviews for Don Juan
Review - Don Juan
I could only make it through the First Canto — 66 pages was enough.
Reviewed by Roger on 2008-04-15 19:22:42
Don Juanby George Gordon, Lord Byron | |
| List(s): | "Carp 500" |
|---|---|
| Category: |
"Poetry Collections" |
| Pages: | 756 |
| Year of Publication: | 1819 |
| Date Read: | 08/02/1997 |
| Notes: | This long, digressive satiric poem is a loose narrative held together only by the hero, Don Juan, and the narrator, Byron himself, who maintains a mocking, ironic relationship with the story. Byron claimed that he had no plot in mind as he wrote the poem, and he continued to add episodes as long as he lived, completing sixteen cantos before his death. He began the poem in 1818 in Italy during a period of wild self-indulgence and profligacy. Like many satires, it was criticized by some as being immoral. Certain incidents and characters are drawn from Byron's life, but he is not Don Juan. He names his hero after the most notorious lover and seducer of women in European literature. Originally a villain in a Spanish story, Don Juan had become the archetype of the heartless, remorseless seducer. The Don Juan character represents a merely physical desire divorced from any spiritual or even humane feelings. Ironically, Byron gives the name of this cold and callous stock character to his own, more modest hero. Byron's young lover is, at first, simple and naive. Every woman who meets him finds him charming; thus he has not need for force, treachery, or the seductive arts. Byron projects his own, more worldly personality as the narrator. |
| My Rating: | 5 |