Don Juan (poem)
In English literature, Don Juan, written from 1819 to 1824 by the English poet Lord Byron, is a satirical, epic poem that portrays the Spanish folk legend of Don Juan, not as a womaniser as historically portrayed, but as a victim easily seduced by women.[1] As genre literature, Don Juan is an epic poem, written in ottava rima and presented in 16 cantos. Lord Byron derived the character of Don Juan from traditional Spanish folk legends; however, the story was very much his own.[2] Upon publication in 1819, cantos I and II were widely criticized as immoral because Byron had so freely ridiculed the social subjects and public figures of his time.[3] At his death in 1824, Lord Byron had completed 16 of 17 cantos, whilst canto XVII remained unfinished.
Author
English
1819–1824 (final cantos published posthumously)
United Kingdom
555 pages
Synopsis[edit]
Canto I[edit]
In Spain. Don Juan lives in Seville with his father, Don José, and his mother, Donna Inez. The romantic Donna Julia, the twenty-three-year-old wife of Don Alfonso, fancies and lusts for the sixteen-year-old boy Don Juan. Despite attempting to resist his charms, Julia enters into a love affair with Juan, and falls in love. Suspecting his wife's infidelity, Don Alfonso bursts into their bedroom, followed by his bodyguards who find no-one and nothing suspicious upon searching their master's bedroom, for Juan was hiding in the bed; Don Alfonso and his posse leave the room. Later returning alone to his bedroom, Don Alfonso comes across Juan's shoes and they fight for the woman, Donna Julia. Breaking off the fight with Don Alfonso, Don Juan escapes. To thwart rumours and the consequent bad reputation that her son has brought upon himself, Donna Inez sends Don Juan away to travel Europe, in hope that he develop a better sense of morality. The cuckold Don Alfonso punishes his faithless wife, Donna Julia, by interning her to a nunnery.
Canto II[edit]
Exiled from Seville. Don Juan travels to Cádiz, accompanied by Pedrillo, a tutor, and servants. Throughout the voyage, Juan pines for the love of Donna Julia, but seasickness distracts him. A storm wrecks the ship; Juan, his entourage, and some sailors escape in a long boat. Adrift in the Aegean Sea, they soon exhaust their supplies of food and eat Don Juan's dog. Afterwards, the sailors turn cannibal and eat Pedrillo; later, the cannibal sailors go mad and die. This Canto is largely based on accounts by survivors of the wreck of the Wager, including Byron’s grandfather, Admiral John Byron, who as a young man had endured the wreck of H.M.S. Wager off the coast of Chile.
Translations[edit]
Tatiana Gnedich translated it from memory into Russian while incarcerated in a Soviet prison during the Stalin years. After she was released, she had it published in 1959. Further editions followed, and Byron became much better known in Russia than before.[13]