First published in 1819, “Don Juan” is often acknowledged as one of Lord Byron’s greatest poetic works. An epic poem, comprised of seventeen cantos that Byron continued to work on and expand until his death, “Don Juan” follows the adventures of the famous Spanish libertine and reflects upon many of the romantic and personal experiences that are universal to all mankind. From a forbidden love affair in Spain, to exile in Italy, from being shipwrecked in Greece, to being kept in slavery in Russia, Don Juan’s adventures provide Byron with an exquisite framework of high drama to discuss, and often mock, Western societies. Full of coarse humor and extreme satire, Byron’s poem was instantly famous and controversial upon its first publication. Byron turns many of the classic aspects of Don Juan’s story on their head, making the famous womanizer instead into someone easily seduced and manipulated by women. Interwoven in this innovative work are Byron’s thoughts on such topics as social convention, war, and human nature, with a surprising vindication of natural man’s gracious and ignoble impulses. “Don Juan” endures as an entertaining, elaborate, and memorable poetic criticism of man’s many foibles. This edition includes a biographical afterword.
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