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Don Juan
Don Juan, an unfinished epic satire in ottava rima by Lord Byron, published 1819–24.
Don Juan, a young gentleman of Seville, in consequence of an intrigue with Donna Julia, is sent abroad by his mother at the age of 16. His ship is wrecked and the passengers take to the long-boat. After many tribulations, Juan is cast up on a Greek island. He is restored to life by Haidée, the daughter of a Greek pirate, and the pair fall in love. The father, who is supposed dead, returns, finds the lovers together, and captures the fighting Juan, who is put in chains in one of the pirate's ships. He is then sold as a slave in Constantinople to a sultana who has fallen in love with him. He arouses her jealousy and is threatened with death, but escapes to the Russian army, which is besieging Ismail. Because of his gallant conduct he is sent with dispatches to St Petersburg, where he attracts the favour of the Empress Catherine, who sends him on a political mission to England. The last cantos (the ‘English cantos’) are taken up with a satirical description of social conditions in England and with the love affairs of Juan. The outspoken wit and satire are especially directed at hypocrisy in all its forms, at social and sexual conventions, and at sentimentality. There are many attacks on the objects of Byron's scorn: Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Wellington, Lord Londonderry, and many others. Don Juan himself is a charming, handsome young man, who delights in succumbing to beautiful women, but his character is little more than the connecting thread in a long social comedy. |
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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DonJuan1.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DonJuan1.html |
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Don Juan
Don Juan, character derived from an old Spanish legend, who first found vital expression in Tirso de Molina's El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra (The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest, c.1630) and has since become a constantly recurring figure in European literature. There is no evidence for his historical existence. Tirso's play combines two plots derived from separate sources, the first being concerned with the character and activities of the hero, the second with his mocking invitation to dinner to the marble statue, who accepts it and brings retribution upon Don Juan by supernatural means for his many crimes.
Among the many works on the same theme are Mozart's opera Don Giovanni (1787), Byron's poem Don Juan (1819–24), Molière's Le Festin de pierre (1665), an Italian version by Goldoni, and a Russian one by Pushkin, several works in Spanish, the best being Zorrilla y Moral's Don Juan Tenorio (1844), Rostand's La Dernière Nuit de Don Juan (c.1910), Horváth's Don Juan Comes Back from the War (1937), Frisch's Don Juan, oder Die Liebe zur Geometrie (1953), and Ronald Duncan's Don Juan and The Death of Satan (both 1956). Don Juan also appears in the third act of Shaw's Man and Superman (1905), and in Tennessee Williams's Camino Real (1953). |
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-DonJuan.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-DonJuan.html |
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Don Juan
Don Juan, according to a Spanish story apparently first dramatized by Gabriel Téllez (who wrote under the name ‘Tirso da Molina’) in El burlador de Sevilla, and subsequently by Molière in Le Festin de pierre and in Mozart's Don Giovanni, was Don Juan Tenorio, of Seville. Having attempted to ravish Doña Anna, the daughter of the commander of Seville, he is surprised by the father, whom he kills in a duel. A statue of the commander is erected over his tomb. Juan and his cowardly servant Leporello visit the tomb, when the statue is seen to move its head. Juan jestingly invites it to a banquet. The statue comes, seizes Juan, and delivers him to devils. Don Juan is the proverbial heartless and impious seducer. His injured wife is Elvira.
Don Juan is also the subject of plays by Shadwell (The Libertine), Goldoni, Pushkin, and Montherlant, and of a poem by Byron (see below). For R. Browning's Don Juan see Fifine at the Fair, and for Shaw's see Man and Superman. Molière's version was translated by Christopher Hampton (pub. 1974). The Joker of Seville (pub. 1978) by Walcott is an adaptation of El burlador de Sevilla, based on R. Campbell's blank verse translation. |
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Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DonJuan.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-DonJuan.html |
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Don Juan
Don Juan , legendary profligate. He has a counterpart in the legends of many peoples, but the Spanish version of the great libertine has become the most universal. At the height of his licentious career, Don Juan seduces the daughter of the commander of Seville and kills her father in a duel. When he later visits a statue of his victim and jeeringly invites it to a feast, the statue comes to life and drags Juan off to hell. The earliest-known dramatization of the story is El burlador de Sevilla (1630), attributed to Gabriel Téllez, who wrote under the pseudonym Tirso de Molina. Molière's Le Festin de Pierre (1665) and Mozart's opera Don Giovanni (1787) are perhaps the most famous treatments of the theme. Among the many other literary works that use the unscrupulous gallant as the hero are Byron's Don Juan, Espronceda's El estudiante de Salamanca, and Shaw's Man and Superman. |
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"Don Juan." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Don Juan." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-DonJuan.html "Don Juan." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-DonJuan.html |
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Don Juan
Don JuanThe mysterious, probably fictional Yaqui Indian sorcerer whose metaphysical doctrines were recorded by Carlos Castaneda in his best-selling book The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge (1968) and in numerous subsequent writings. No evidence has been produced for the actual existence of Don Juan outside the pages of Castaneda's books. Sources:Castaneda, Carlos. Journey to Ixtlan. N.p., 1972. ——. A Separate Reality. N.p., 1971. ——. The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. N.p., 1968. |
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"Don Juan." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Don Juan." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403801433.html "Don Juan." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403801433.html |
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Don Juan
Don Juan.
1. The legend of the libertine Don Juan has been the basis of many plays since that of Tirso di Molina in 1630, and of many operas, Mozart's Don Giovanni being the best-known. Other composers who have treated the subject incl. Melani, Gazzaniga, Fabrizi, Federici, Dibdin, Pacini, Dargomyzhsky, Delibes, Alfano, and Goossens. 2. Tone-poem, Op.20, by Richard Strauss, based on poem by Lenau, comp. 1888, f.p. Weimar 1889. 3. Ballet-pantomime in 3 acts, music by Gluck, lib. by Calzabigi, based on Molière. Prod. Vienna 1761. |
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Cite this article
MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-DonJuan.html MICHAEL KENNEDY and JOYCE BOURNE. "Don Juan." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O76-DonJuan.html |
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Don Juan
Don Juan Legendary Spanish philanderer. A medieval folk tale, the earliest printed version is The Rake of Seville (1630) by Tirso de Molina. Notable versions of his amorous adventures are Molière's play The Stone Feast (1665), Mozart's opera Don Giovanni (1787), and Byron's poem Don Juan (1819–24).
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"Don Juan." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Don Juan." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-DonJuan.html "Don Juan." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-DonJuan.html |
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Juan, Don
Juan, Don legendary Spanish lover and hero of a number of stories, the type of a heartless seducer. According to a Spanish story first dramatized by Gabriel Téllez (1584–1641), he was Don Juan Tenorio of Seville.
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Juan, Don." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Juan, Don." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-JuanDon.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Juan, Don." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-JuanDon.html |
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