Don Juan

Let's get one thing clear - there's only one person that I believe is the greatest literary mind we've ever had. His name is Lord Byron. If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with Byron. I read his stuff, I research his life, I even use him as my main secondary source in my Creative Writing for my degree. He's a genius and created on of the greatest and most complex character archetypes of all time: The Byronic Hero. 

I found "Don Juan" shortly after reading "The Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" when I was 13 or 14 years old - and that's when I fell in love with Lord Byron. Some lines of poetry can make you burst into hysterical laughter - and others can move you to tears. My favourite line of Byron's poetry is actually from "The Giaour":

"And who would be doom'd to gaze upon
A sky without a cloud or sun?" 

(sighs)

Characters:

My favourite character is Don Juan. He's the hero that Byron requires - an unnamed crime and his life is haunted by spirits that hound his soul. He's a beautiful creation with amazing lines of poetry - and if you didn't like him, well - you're not supposed to. He's a Byronic Hero - mostly, he is his creator: "mad, bad and dangerous to know." 

Themes:

My favourite theme is love and death. Byron is a Romantic - and Romanticism means Liebestod. Liebestod (for those of you that don't know) - is the exploration of images in sex and death and how they are connotative of each other. It is beautifully portrayed in "Don Juan" - please read it and realise how amazing it is!

Storyline:

The storyline follows the life and demise of Byronic Hero, "Don Juan". How he falls in love, gets lost at sea and finally begins to realise how his previous events in life are haunting him dreadfully. It is so poetically written that you don't even realise that this guy has some serious psychological issues. He does - and it's prominent if you're looking for it. 

Verdict:

I give this book 10/9

100% for characters: Don Juan is one of the most famous and articulate Byronic Heroes ever created. 

4/3 for themes: I love the Romanticist view of Liebestod. It can also be seen in Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley and some Coleridge works (also, read some Anne Radcliffe.... o.O "The Sicilian Romance" also on this blog!)

100% for storyline: One of the most well-know Romantic storylines with a brilliant moral and cultural aspect of a man in a crisis on an anomic scale! Up and up goes the existentialism.