Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This chapter presents commentaries on Lord Byron's version of Don Juan. It examines contemporary reviews of Byron's epic poem which openly declared their expectation that the work was linked with the ...
More
This chapter presents commentaries on Lord Byron's version of Don Juan. It examines contemporary reviews of Byron's epic poem which openly declared their expectation that the work was linked with the popular theme, and this assumption was compounded by the suspicion concerning Byron's reputation as a philanderer. Most readers interpreted the text of Byron's poem on the basis of their predisposition to expect a work about the legendary seducer written by a Don Juan-like author.Less
This chapter presents commentaries on Lord Byron's version of Don Juan. It examines contemporary reviews of Byron's epic poem which openly declared their expectation that the work was linked with the popular theme, and this assumption was compounded by the suspicion concerning Byron's reputation as a philanderer. Most readers interpreted the text of Byron's poem on the basis of their predisposition to expect a work about the legendary seducer written by a Don Juan-like author.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This chapter outlines the history of the Don Juan legend from 1630 to 1824. It suggests that the differences between versions of Don Juan argue for a more generous understanding of what constitutes a ...
More
This chapter outlines the history of the Don Juan legend from 1630 to 1824. It suggests that the differences between versions of Don Juan argue for a more generous understanding of what constitutes a version of the legend while similarities between versions cumulatively build up a picture of a hypothetical traditional form of the legend. This chapter questions the popularity of the legend and provides explanations other than the jesting or ignorant theory that it maintained its success due to a pact with the devil.Less
This chapter outlines the history of the Don Juan legend from 1630 to 1824. It suggests that the differences between versions of Don Juan argue for a more generous understanding of what constitutes a version of the legend while similarities between versions cumulatively build up a picture of a hypothetical traditional form of the legend. This chapter questions the popularity of the legend and provides explanations other than the jesting or ignorant theory that it maintained its success due to a pact with the devil.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This chapter examines the extent to which Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan was seen to be politically subversive and the extent to which the Don Juan legend made it so. The allusive appeal of the poem ...
More
This chapter examines the extent to which Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan was seen to be politically subversive and the extent to which the Don Juan legend made it so. The allusive appeal of the poem to the upper and lower classes was attributed to its invocation of specific class configurations and to its politics, which were not solely sexual. The poem was also placed in the unusual position of having attracted just about the only readers which it ostensibly neglected to address, the working class.Less
This chapter examines the extent to which Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan was seen to be politically subversive and the extent to which the Don Juan legend made it so. The allusive appeal of the poem to the upper and lower classes was attributed to its invocation of specific class configurations and to its politics, which were not solely sexual. The poem was also placed in the unusual position of having attracted just about the only readers which it ostensibly neglected to address, the working class.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This chapter questions the portrayal of the character and legend of Don Juan in Lord Byron's epic poem as the victim of seduction from a feminist perspective. This feminist interpretation of Don Juan ...
More
This chapter questions the portrayal of the character and legend of Don Juan in Lord Byron's epic poem as the victim of seduction from a feminist perspective. This feminist interpretation of Don Juan is considered in the context of the Don Juan legend as one which implicated the poem within Regency debates concerning seduction. This chapter proposes counter-arguments to the univocality of the traditional legend by extending the definition of the Don Juan legend to include female or feminist voices.Less
This chapter questions the portrayal of the character and legend of Don Juan in Lord Byron's epic poem as the victim of seduction from a feminist perspective. This feminist interpretation of Don Juan is considered in the context of the Don Juan legend as one which implicated the poem within Regency debates concerning seduction. This chapter proposes counter-arguments to the univocality of the traditional legend by extending the definition of the Don Juan legend to include female or feminist voices.
CHRISTOPHER STORRS
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199246373
- eISBN:
- 9780191715242
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199246373.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter seeks to show that defence and foreign policy issues mattered to ‘public opinion’, and that they impacted upon the domestic political tensions – associated above all with the ambitions ...
More
This chapter seeks to show that defence and foreign policy issues mattered to ‘public opinion’, and that they impacted upon the domestic political tensions – associated above all with the ambitions of Don Juan of Austria – which marked the reign, and that those tensions impacted upon defence. Some attempt is made to show that the Cortes of Castile continued to play a role; an attempt is also made to demonstrate the success of the system of conciliar government and the possibility of administrative innovation.Less
This chapter seeks to show that defence and foreign policy issues mattered to ‘public opinion’, and that they impacted upon the domestic political tensions – associated above all with the ambitions of Don Juan of Austria – which marked the reign, and that those tensions impacted upon defence. Some attempt is made to show that the Cortes of Castile continued to play a role; an attempt is also made to demonstrate the success of the system of conciliar government and the possibility of administrative innovation.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This chapter examines the sexual political implications of Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan. It highlights the fears that a pervasive female reading of the poem would make the sexual political issues ...
More
This chapter examines the sexual political implications of Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan. It highlights the fears that a pervasive female reading of the poem would make the sexual political issues raised by the legend and Byron's poem apparent, for the vehemence of the reviewers' fury cannot be considered separately from the provocative context which the legend automatically effected. The early history of the legend demonstrated a special relationship of intimacy between many of the versions and their implicitly male readers and spectators.Less
This chapter examines the sexual political implications of Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan. It highlights the fears that a pervasive female reading of the poem would make the sexual political issues raised by the legend and Byron's poem apparent, for the vehemence of the reviewers' fury cannot be considered separately from the provocative context which the legend automatically effected. The early history of the legend demonstrated a special relationship of intimacy between many of the versions and their implicitly male readers and spectators.
Andrei A. Znamenski
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195172317
- eISBN:
- 9780199785759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172317.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The increased attention given to shamanism in humanities studies and in popular culture since the 1960s is usually associated with two names: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda. Eliade, a ...
More
The increased attention given to shamanism in humanities studies and in popular culture since the 1960s is usually associated with two names: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda. Eliade, a Romanian-born philosopher and religious scholar, released Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'extase, the first grand treatise on shamanism, which became an academic bestseller after its revised translation was published in English as Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1964). Also an immigrant, Castaneda published an experiential novel, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968), he captivated the minds of numerous spiritual seekers and served as an inspiration for many literary emulators. Eventually, Castaneda became one of the informal apostles of the “New Age” community. This chapter discusses the contribution of Eliade and Castaneda to shamanology and places them in the context of a time that contributed to the rise of interest in shamanism.Less
The increased attention given to shamanism in humanities studies and in popular culture since the 1960s is usually associated with two names: Mircea Eliade and Carlos Castaneda. Eliade, a Romanian-born philosopher and religious scholar, released Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'extase, the first grand treatise on shamanism, which became an academic bestseller after its revised translation was published in English as Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy (1964). Also an immigrant, Castaneda published an experiential novel, The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968), he captivated the minds of numerous spiritual seekers and served as an inspiration for many literary emulators. Eventually, Castaneda became one of the informal apostles of the “New Age” community. This chapter discusses the contribution of Eliade and Castaneda to shamanology and places them in the context of a time that contributed to the rise of interest in shamanism.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This study is a contextual reading of Byron's epic poem Don Juan which argues that the importance of the Don Juan legend has been considerably underestimated. Contemporary histories — critical, ...
More
This study is a contextual reading of Byron's epic poem Don Juan which argues that the importance of the Don Juan legend has been considerably underestimated. Contemporary histories — critical, political, theatrical, and personal — reveal that innocent or neutral readings of the poem were precluded by the figure's notoriety. It demonstrates the invitation which the poem was seen to offer to specific categories of readership — especially those of women and of the working classes — and how their reading not only contributes to the meaning of the text but also makes that reading inherently political. The scope of the book includes other versions of the Don Juan legend. It also engages throughout with a critique of traditional myth-criticism, using instead Lèvi-Strauss's more inclusive definition of what constitutes a myth. It considers those discourses which have spoken of the Don Juan legend — philosophical, psychoanalytical, speech-act — and applies postmodernist and feminist theories to a consideration of both Byron's poem and the legend itself.Less
This study is a contextual reading of Byron's epic poem Don Juan which argues that the importance of the Don Juan legend has been considerably underestimated. Contemporary histories — critical, political, theatrical, and personal — reveal that innocent or neutral readings of the poem were precluded by the figure's notoriety. It demonstrates the invitation which the poem was seen to offer to specific categories of readership — especially those of women and of the working classes — and how their reading not only contributes to the meaning of the text but also makes that reading inherently political. The scope of the book includes other versions of the Don Juan legend. It also engages throughout with a critique of traditional myth-criticism, using instead Lèvi-Strauss's more inclusive definition of what constitutes a myth. It considers those discourses which have spoken of the Don Juan legend — philosophical, psychoanalytical, speech-act — and applies postmodernist and feminist theories to a consideration of both Byron's poem and the legend itself.
Andrei A. Znamenski
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195172317
- eISBN:
- 9780199785759
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195172317.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
Carlos Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, and two subsequent texts were described as anthropological accounts, which gave them credibility. Coming straight from the Sonoran Desert, ...
More
Carlos Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, and two subsequent texts were described as anthropological accounts, which gave them credibility. Coming straight from the Sonoran Desert, Castaneda's ethnographic accounts could easily appear to readers to be authentic anthropology. The fact that Castaneda refused to specify the identity of his characters brought an intrigue to his plots. Readers of his books were left free to exercise their imaginations or to look around for cultural and individual parallels with Castaneda's characters and settings. Castaneda and Don Juan became attractive cultural and intellectual models, which inspired at least some spiritual seekers to replicate their experiences.Less
Carlos Castaneda's first book, The Teachings of Don Juan, and two subsequent texts were described as anthropological accounts, which gave them credibility. Coming straight from the Sonoran Desert, Castaneda's ethnographic accounts could easily appear to readers to be authentic anthropology. The fact that Castaneda refused to specify the identity of his characters brought an intrigue to his plots. Readers of his books were left free to exercise their imaginations or to look around for cultural and individual parallels with Castaneda's characters and settings. Castaneda and Don Juan became attractive cultural and intellectual models, which inspired at least some spiritual seekers to replicate their experiences.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan. This book attempts to uncover the debates about sexual and class politics in which ...
More
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan. This book attempts to uncover the debates about sexual and class politics in which Byron's poem was automatically implicated. It outlines a history of the Don Juan legend until 1824, recreates the constitutive presence of the historical reader, and considers the poem as a ‘speech act’. It also examines the political issue of seduction in the poem and refutes the critical claims that Don Juan was only a name.Less
This introductory chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan. This book attempts to uncover the debates about sexual and class politics in which Byron's poem was automatically implicated. It outlines a history of the Don Juan legend until 1824, recreates the constitutive presence of the historical reader, and considers the poem as a ‘speech act’. It also examines the political issue of seduction in the poem and refutes the critical claims that Don Juan was only a name.
Ritchie Robertson
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199571581
- eISBN:
- 9780191722356
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199571581.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 18th-century Literature
Byron's great poem is shown to owe large and partly unrecognized debts to Italian romance epic and to mock epic, including that of Wieland, and also to the Italian verse‐tales of the Abbate Casti. ...
More
Byron's great poem is shown to owe large and partly unrecognized debts to Italian romance epic and to mock epic, including that of Wieland, and also to the Italian verse‐tales of the Abbate Casti. Don Juan is also shown to criticize Homeric epic for its stress on warfare, thus joining a well‐established tradition of epic criticism, and to continue a number of themes from the ‘Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes’, taking a largely conservative stance in relation to English poetry. Byron is also shown to profess an aesthetic of intertextuality, implicit through mock epic, in opposition to the demands for originality made by his Romantic contemporaries, and to put forward a pessimistic critique of modern (especially English) civilization as based on sexual misery. His portrayal of Islamic culture, based on direct experience, is contrasted with that by Wieland in the context of the critique of Orientalism.Less
Byron's great poem is shown to owe large and partly unrecognized debts to Italian romance epic and to mock epic, including that of Wieland, and also to the Italian verse‐tales of the Abbate Casti. Don Juan is also shown to criticize Homeric epic for its stress on warfare, thus joining a well‐established tradition of epic criticism, and to continue a number of themes from the ‘Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes’, taking a largely conservative stance in relation to English poetry. Byron is also shown to profess an aesthetic of intertextuality, implicit through mock epic, in opposition to the demands for originality made by his Romantic contemporaries, and to put forward a pessimistic critique of modern (especially English) civilization as based on sexual misery. His portrayal of Islamic culture, based on direct experience, is contrasted with that by Wieland in the context of the critique of Orientalism.
Ralph Pite
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112945
- eISBN:
- 9780191670886
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112945.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
As Byron asserts how Don Juan should be perceived as ‘the sublime of that there sort of writing’ among other things, he emphasizes ‘that there’ despite the grammatical error since it focuses on ...
More
As Byron asserts how Don Juan should be perceived as ‘the sublime of that there sort of writing’ among other things, he emphasizes ‘that there’ despite the grammatical error since it focuses on actual fact and how Don Juan consistently made use of a tactic that lowers the tone to make ‘life’ attainable. The candour towards actuality expressed in this poem attempts to differentiate it from the moralized poetry of other writers. Byron claims, however, that this frankness functions within ‘human powers’ since seeking the ‘divine’ would result in dull poetry. Despite how Byron dislikes the theological scheme and the doctrine of torture in Dante's writings, he admires how the poem successfully depicted gentleness in immoral punishments.Less
As Byron asserts how Don Juan should be perceived as ‘the sublime of that there sort of writing’ among other things, he emphasizes ‘that there’ despite the grammatical error since it focuses on actual fact and how Don Juan consistently made use of a tactic that lowers the tone to make ‘life’ attainable. The candour towards actuality expressed in this poem attempts to differentiate it from the moralized poetry of other writers. Byron claims, however, that this frankness functions within ‘human powers’ since seeking the ‘divine’ would result in dull poetry. Despite how Byron dislikes the theological scheme and the doctrine of torture in Dante's writings, he admires how the poem successfully depicted gentleness in immoral punishments.
Moyra Haslett
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198184324
- eISBN:
- 9780191674198
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198184324.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, Poetry
This chapter examines Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan in the context of contemporary seductions. The myth of Don Juan during the Regency Period was as much a product of the debate about his character ...
More
This chapter examines Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan in the context of contemporary seductions. The myth of Don Juan during the Regency Period was as much a product of the debate about his character as of any one or more versions of the legend. The intense debate about Don Juan no longer applies to contemporary times, despite the showing of the 1995 film Don Juan de Marco. But the public debate on seduction continues, especially in recent controversies over date rape and codes of practice for American students on verbal consent before sex.Less
This chapter examines Lord Byron's epic poem Don Juan in the context of contemporary seductions. The myth of Don Juan during the Regency Period was as much a product of the debate about his character as of any one or more versions of the legend. The intense debate about Don Juan no longer applies to contemporary times, despite the showing of the 1995 film Don Juan de Marco. But the public debate on seduction continues, especially in recent controversies over date rape and codes of practice for American students on verbal consent before sex.
Anthony Howe
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781846319716
- eISBN:
- 9781781380918
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9781846319716.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
Byron and the Forms of Thought is a major new study of Byron as a poet and thinker. While informed by recent work on Byron’s philosophical contexts, the book questions attempts to describe Byron as a ...
More
Byron and the Forms of Thought is a major new study of Byron as a poet and thinker. While informed by recent work on Byron’s philosophical contexts, the book questions attempts to describe Byron as a philosopher of a particular kind. It approaches Byron, rather, as a writer fascinated by the different ways of thinking philosophy and poetry are taken to represent. After an Introduction that explores Byron’s reception as a thinker, the book moves to a new reading of Byron’s scepticism, arguing for a close proximity, in Byron’s thought, between epistemology and poetics. This is explored through readings of Byron’s efforts both as a philosophical poet and writer of critical prose. The conclusions reached form the basis of an extended reading of Don Juan as a critical narrative that investigates connections between visionary and political consciousness. What emerges is a deeply thoughtful poet intrigued and exercised by the possibilities of literary form.Less
Byron and the Forms of Thought is a major new study of Byron as a poet and thinker. While informed by recent work on Byron’s philosophical contexts, the book questions attempts to describe Byron as a philosopher of a particular kind. It approaches Byron, rather, as a writer fascinated by the different ways of thinking philosophy and poetry are taken to represent. After an Introduction that explores Byron’s reception as a thinker, the book moves to a new reading of Byron’s scepticism, arguing for a close proximity, in Byron’s thought, between epistemology and poetics. This is explored through readings of Byron’s efforts both as a philosophical poet and writer of critical prose. The conclusions reached form the basis of an extended reading of Don Juan as a critical narrative that investigates connections between visionary and political consciousness. What emerges is a deeply thoughtful poet intrigued and exercised by the possibilities of literary form.
Emily Rohrbach
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823267965
- eISBN:
- 9780823272440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823267965.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry
Chapter five describes the comic epic poem’s foregrounding of the narrator’s writing process as a “presentness,” heightened through interruptions and other kinds of digression as well as the ottava ...
More
Chapter five describes the comic epic poem’s foregrounding of the narrator’s writing process as a “presentness,” heightened through interruptions and other kinds of digression as well as the ottava rima stanza form. Turning to the arguments of Hugh Blair and Adam Smith, this chapter recounts the contemporary controversies about what place digressions should have in historical writing. Analyzing key moments in the English cantos, this chapter argues that the temporality of Don Juan’s aesthetic engages with and defies the Enlightenment rhetorical principles of Blair and Smith, while upending the philosophy of progress that often went with them. Suggesting that the historical imagination might take into account not just a progress of what happened, but also a notion of what did not happen but might have, Don Juan creates a sense of time that is less progressive or regressive than digressive—a lateral temporality. The chapter concludes by suggesting what implications this lateral temporality might have for twenty-first century critical practices.Less
Chapter five describes the comic epic poem’s foregrounding of the narrator’s writing process as a “presentness,” heightened through interruptions and other kinds of digression as well as the ottava rima stanza form. Turning to the arguments of Hugh Blair and Adam Smith, this chapter recounts the contemporary controversies about what place digressions should have in historical writing. Analyzing key moments in the English cantos, this chapter argues that the temporality of Don Juan’s aesthetic engages with and defies the Enlightenment rhetorical principles of Blair and Smith, while upending the philosophy of progress that often went with them. Suggesting that the historical imagination might take into account not just a progress of what happened, but also a notion of what did not happen but might have, Don Juan creates a sense of time that is less progressive or regressive than digressive—a lateral temporality. The chapter concludes by suggesting what implications this lateral temporality might have for twenty-first century critical practices.
Richard Cronin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199582532
- eISBN:
- 9780191722929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199582532.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
The chapter continues the argument of the eighth by arguing that poems as well as novels in the period became magazine‐like, the key example being Don Juan. The serio‐comic tone that Don Juan shares ...
More
The chapter continues the argument of the eighth by arguing that poems as well as novels in the period became magazine‐like, the key example being Don Juan. The serio‐comic tone that Don Juan shares with the magazines has claims, the chapter argues, to be recognized as the dominant literary mode of the period.Less
The chapter continues the argument of the eighth by arguing that poems as well as novels in the period became magazine‐like, the key example being Don Juan. The serio‐comic tone that Don Juan shares with the magazines has claims, the chapter argues, to be recognized as the dominant literary mode of the period.
Jerome J. McGann
- Published in print:
- 1988
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198117506
- eISBN:
- 9780191670961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117506.003.0010
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
All of Lord Byron's works, and especially his published books, exhibit intersections of different kinds. His bibliography is more than a scholar's guide and resource, it is also a graphic display of ...
More
All of Lord Byron's works, and especially his published books, exhibit intersections of different kinds. His bibliography is more than a scholar's guide and resource, it is also a graphic display of his life in books, and of the extension of his life through books. The piracies, the huge number of translations, and the numerous printings all attest and perpetuate the poetic explorations of reality which he initially set in motion. In 1822, Byron transforms Don Juan into a book of the European world, a comprehensive survey and explanation of the principal phases of the epoch 1789–1824. Don Juan is also the Book of Byron because he is its hero, because the poem gives the reader a history of 1789–1824 which is set and framed, at all points, in terms of Byron's history.Less
All of Lord Byron's works, and especially his published books, exhibit intersections of different kinds. His bibliography is more than a scholar's guide and resource, it is also a graphic display of his life in books, and of the extension of his life through books. The piracies, the huge number of translations, and the numerous printings all attest and perpetuate the poetic explorations of reality which he initially set in motion. In 1822, Byron transforms Don Juan into a book of the European world, a comprehensive survey and explanation of the principal phases of the epoch 1789–1824. Don Juan is also the Book of Byron because he is its hero, because the poem gives the reader a history of 1789–1824 which is set and framed, at all points, in terms of Byron's history.
Matthew Bevis
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199253999
- eISBN:
- 9780191719790
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199253999.003.0002
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
Byron was born in the year that The Times came into existence (1788), and he was an avid reader of the oratory that commanded unprecedented space in the early 19th-century newspapers. He was also the ...
More
Byron was born in the year that The Times came into existence (1788), and he was an avid reader of the oratory that commanded unprecedented space in the early 19th-century newspapers. He was also the first popular writer in these new historical circumstances to have trained for and begun a career in parliament, and thus provides a valuable starting-point. This chapter examines his engagements with Whig, Tory, and radical oratory in his speeches and poetry, and ends by looking in detail at the biggest-selling literary work of the Romantic period, Don Juan (1818-24).Less
Byron was born in the year that The Times came into existence (1788), and he was an avid reader of the oratory that commanded unprecedented space in the early 19th-century newspapers. He was also the first popular writer in these new historical circumstances to have trained for and begun a career in parliament, and thus provides a valuable starting-point. This chapter examines his engagements with Whig, Tory, and radical oratory in his speeches and poetry, and ends by looking in detail at the biggest-selling literary work of the Romantic period, Don Juan (1818-24).
Caroline Franklin
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198112303
- eISBN:
- 9780191670763
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198112303.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
In turning to Don Juan, one of the greatest long poems in English literature, one is also confronting a work of art consisting predominantly of a gallery of female portraits. This may seem ...
More
In turning to Don Juan, one of the greatest long poems in English literature, one is also confronting a work of art consisting predominantly of a gallery of female portraits. This may seem self-evident, but in fact Lord Byron is still habitually associated with the Byronic hero, in spite of the fact that none appears in his masterpiece. It has gone largely unrecognised that his subtle and complex representation of women in Don Juan is unrivalled in male-authored art of the period. Its concentration on different models of female social and sexual behaviour is comparable only with the novels of Jane Austen. This may seem a surprising observation, for Byron and Austen might be thought to have as little in common as possible for literary contemporaries who at one time shared a publisher. This chapter shows that Don Juan and Mansfield Park emanated from a common climate of contemporary debate on the woman question.Less
In turning to Don Juan, one of the greatest long poems in English literature, one is also confronting a work of art consisting predominantly of a gallery of female portraits. This may seem self-evident, but in fact Lord Byron is still habitually associated with the Byronic hero, in spite of the fact that none appears in his masterpiece. It has gone largely unrecognised that his subtle and complex representation of women in Don Juan is unrivalled in male-authored art of the period. Its concentration on different models of female social and sexual behaviour is comparable only with the novels of Jane Austen. This may seem a surprising observation, for Byron and Austen might be thought to have as little in common as possible for literary contemporaries who at one time shared a publisher. This chapter shows that Don Juan and Mansfield Park emanated from a common climate of contemporary debate on the woman question.
Richard Barrios
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195377347
- eISBN:
- 9780199864577
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195377347.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
A brief overview of the prehistory of sound film, from Thomas Edison through the work of Lee DeForest, noting that most of these early films were marked by musical performance. The origins of the ...
More
A brief overview of the prehistory of sound film, from Thomas Edison through the work of Lee DeForest, noting that most of these early films were marked by musical performance. The origins of the Warner Bros. studio and, ultimately, its marketing of the Vitaphone sound system. Early sound films: Don Juan and Vitaphone, Giovanni Martinelli, Al Jolson, George Jessel. The rival studios begin work of their own. The culmination of this early period with Warners' The Jazz Singer, the success and impact of which have sometimes been misunderstood.Less
A brief overview of the prehistory of sound film, from Thomas Edison through the work of Lee DeForest, noting that most of these early films were marked by musical performance. The origins of the Warner Bros. studio and, ultimately, its marketing of the Vitaphone sound system. Early sound films: Don Juan and Vitaphone, Giovanni Martinelli, Al Jolson, George Jessel. The rival studios begin work of their own. The culmination of this early period with Warners' The Jazz Singer, the success and impact of which have sometimes been misunderstood.
