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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 821.7
EAN: 9780140422160
ISBN: 0140422161
Label: Penguin Classics
Manufacturer: Penguin Classics
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 768
Publication Date: 1988-07-05
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Studio: Penguin Classics

This is the original Classic written by one of the most important and notorious poets of the Romantic Era, George Byon. Please Note: This book is easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher. This eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable.

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The original, the hilarious, the one and only...
Review:
"When I want to know the news, I read Byron"
-- Frank O'Hara

And when you REALLY want to know the news, reach for "Don Juan" (pronunciation hint: 'Juan' is spoken as 'Joo-wan,' i.e. it rhymes with 'tear him a new one.')

This, sports fans, is the original Thing Itself: not only is it caustic, sharp, and hysterically funny (remember that, readers -- it's meant to be FUNNY!), but Byron dictated a lot of it out loud while he was shaving in the morning. I'm not kidding. Read this brilliant stuff, and imagine a guy just making it up as he goes along, in the bathroom while he's shaving. (Yup, the original freestyler -- unbelievable.)

It's worth reading the whole long thing just to come across gems like:

"Her first thought was to cut off Juan's head;
Her second was to cut off his... acquaintance."

And as to its enduring relevance, well, consider Byron's razor-sharp two-line appraisal of women's rights in Muslim countries...

"I speak of Christian lands in this comparison ---
Where wives, at least, are seldom kept in garrison."

Kick back, relax, and have yourself a Lord Byron: ice-cold, pure, and bottled at the source.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: I struggled
Review: I struggled with the forced rhyme. I struggled with the story itself. I think the rhyme scheme got in the way for me. I was so lost and uninterested so frequently. I will put it away, and I will pick it up later some time. Maybe I'm not "there" yet.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Missing the Boat
Review: I'm writing this to specifically respond to the remarks made by another reviewer condemning Byron for forced rhymes, self-conscious commentary, and the lack of a good finish.

WARNING: This poem is intended to be funny! Byron delighted in using the jangly sounds of feminine rhymes in the most outlandish fashion possible, and his digressions are what truly make this poem enjoyable; that voice is the center of the poem, not Don Juan's actions. As for the lack of a finish, I think I'll excuse any poet who dies mid-composition while training troops in the war for Greek independence.

I'm sorry to say it, but if you're looking for this poem to be a serious narrative in the traditional epic manner, you're bound to miss the boat. This poem is *designed* to be hilarious, and as far as that is concerned, it succeeds.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Magnificent, accessible, hilarious
Review: This has to be the longest poem I've ever finished, and yet it still wasn't long enough. It's compulsively entertaining, touching, funny, exciting, and life-affirming. You don't have to be an academic to appreciate it. And even if you don't finish it, you'll appreciate what you do finish for its own sake.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: I Think I Owe My Mother-In-Law a Big Apology
Review: You know the poetry. The kind the older generation uses for birthdays and farewell luncheons ("We hope that God will bless// You with good health and happiness!"). You hate it, the forced rhymes and imperfect metrical structure (indeed, what metrical structure?). My mother-in-law used to write like that - volumes and volumes of such tripe. Sadly, she has departed from us, but not before leaving tons of this stuff all over the house, and a half-finished vanity press run of 100 copies (anybody want one?).

Now I know where she got the impetus for such poetry - Lord Byron! All of that generation's worst excesses of bad poetry come from Byron, I think. Embarrassingly forced rhymes, self-conscious commentary that frustratingly impedes the flow of the narrative, arch cuteness that threatens one's sanity - all there!! And he couldn't even finish it off properly.

Truly, a work only an academic could love - or find any value in. If you are attracted to this book, protect yourself: Try reading it aloud and making a stop at the end of every line (sing-song-like) so you can at least get the sense of the rhymes. I found the Penguin edition serviceable (as Penguins usually are). And don't bother with the footnotes, just let it flow. Now stop being so hard on the older generation.

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