1. John Gordon Byron Development of the line of the protagonist in the poem "Don Juan"

John Gordon Byron

(George Gordon Byron. 22.01.1788-19.04.1824) 01/22/1788 London, UK - 04/19/1824

English poet. Born in London, descended from an ancient noble, impoverished and degraded family, he studied at an aristocratic school at Garrow, then at Cambridge University; in 1806 he anonymously published a book of light poetry "Fuggitive pieces", which he burned, on the advice of a friend; in 1807 published under his own name a collection of poems "Hours of Idleness", which drew sharp criticism from the journals. Edinburgh Review by future Liberal Minister Broome. Byron replied with the satire "English Bards and Scottish Observers" and went on a journey (Spain, Malta, Albania, Greece, Turkey); dear kept a poetic diary, which, upon his return [1812], published it in a revised form under the title Child-Harold's Pilgrimage, 1 and 2 ch.). The poem immediately made him a "celebrity". In the same year, he delivered two political speeches in the House of Lords, one of which was devoted to criticism of the law directed against workers guilty of destroying machines. Literary creativity and political activity are combined with the scattered lifestyle of the secular dandy (the most lasting relationship is with Caroline Lam-Noel, who portrayed him in a very biased manner in her novel "Glenarvon"). In the period from 1812-1815 B. created a number of poems ("Gyaur" - "The Giaour", "The Abydos Bride" - "The Bride of Abydos", "Corsair" - "The Corsair", "Lara" - "Lara") ... In 1815 he married Miss Milbank, with whom he separated the following year; her tendentious information about Byron served as material for the American writer Beecher Stowe for her book against Byron. Completing the cycle of poems "The Siege of Corinth" (The Siege of Corinth) and "Parisina", Byron leaves England forever, where his break with his wife caused the indignation of a hypocritical socialite and bourgeois society. He settled [1816] in Switzerland, where he became friends with Shelley and wrote poems: The Dream, Prometheus, The Prisoner of Chillon, The Darkness, Childe -Harold "and the first acts of" Manfred ". In 1818 Byron moved to Venice, where he created the last act of

. Byron George Gordon Noel. Don-Juan. www.photoaspects.com

"Manfred", IV part of "Childe Harold", "Complaint of Tasso" (The Lament of Tasso), "Mazepa", "Beppo" and the first songs of "Don Juan" ... In 1819 he met the Count. Teresa Guiccioli (who served as the original for Mirra in his tragedy "Sardanapalus"), under whose influence he studied Italian history and poetry, wrote "Prophecy of Dante" and plays: "Marino Falieri" and "Two Foscari" ... In 1820 in Ravenna he joined the revolutionary movement of the Carbonari; here are written: the mystery of "Cain", satire against Southey, "Vision of the judgment" (Visie of the Judgment) and "Heaven and earth" (Heaven and Earth). In 1821 he moved to Pisa, where, together with Ghent (Leigh Hunt), published the political journal Liberal (originally Carbonarius), continuing to work on Don Juan. In 1822 he settled in Genoa, where he wrote the drama Werner, the dramatic poem The Deformed Transformed and the poem The Age of Bronze and The Island. In 1823 he went to Greece to participate in the national liberation war against Turkey, fell ill and died on April 19, 1824. Shortly before his death, he wrote the poem "Today I am 35 years old", where he expressed the hope (which did not come true) to die on the battlefield. Byron's death caused a feeling of sadness in the liberal part of society on the continent and was mourned by Goethe (in the second part of "Faust" in the image of the young Euphorion, dying after a miraculous take-off), here Pushkin ("To the sea"), Ryleev ("To death Byron "). The history of writing Byron's poem "Don Juan"

The mention of "Don Juan" appears in Byron's correspondence in July 1818. On June 3, he began writing the first song, finished the rough edition on September 6 and, continuing to work on and expanding it, at the same time took up the second song. By mid-January 1819 it was already ready.

From the very beginning, Byron had a presentiment that he would encounter resistance from his regular publisher Mereya and his entire circle of friends, which included people close to Byron himself, such as Thomas Moore and John Kem Hobhouse. Indeed, already in January, Byron received letters protesting against the obscenity of the first song and the hints contained in it about the author's wife. . Byron George Gordon Noel. Don-Juan. www.photoaspects.com

Byron defended himself, referring to the great predecessors, and assured that he was writing the most moral poem in the world!

Despite Merey's resistance, the first two songs were published in 1819 at Byron's insistence. At the same time, the third canto was begun, but most of it was written during September. It was too long and therefore was divided into two songs (third and fourth). After long and irritating skirmishes with the publisher, all three new songs were released on August 8, 1821.

On "Don Juan" and its anonymous (but well-known) author, "scalping" reviews, warnings, advice, admonitions fell on Byron from all sides, and he doubted, for the first and last time, the advisability of further work on "Donnie Johnny". He announced that Countess Guiccioli, offended by the indecency of several episodes, took his word from him to leave work on the poem.

Undoubtedly, the countess's ban was for the poet only a pretext behind which his disappointment, hesitation and new impatient searches were hidden. In July 1822 he told his correspondents that he had received permission from the countess to continue work on Juan again. “No screams will stop me,” he wrote. "The public hates me now, but it won't stop me from telling the tyrants who are trying to trample on the idea that their thrones will be shaken to their very foundations."

So much the better! - I may stand alone,

But would not change my free thoughts for a throne.

Driven by this desire, the poet wrote quickly. At the beginning of December, the twelfth canto was already written. In November 1822 there was a long-planned break with Murray, and on December 23 Byron hands over Don Juan to the publisher John Hunt, an active supporter of the radical English political system. By May 6, 1823, he finishes the sixteenth canto, after which he writes only fourteen stanzas of the unfinished seventeenth canto. The last chapters were published shortly after the poet's death on March 26, 1823. And the first complete edition of the poem was published in 1833, it also included the previously printed "dedication" to the poem, directed against the "two Robert"- Southey and Ministe.

. Byron George Gordon Noel. Don-Juan. www.photoaspects.com

Working on the story of "Don Johnny", Byron deliberately refers to Italian models.Byron's first "Italian" hobby was Francesco Berni (1498-1533). He borrows from the poet many satirical techniques - the ironic use of Latin quotations, an addiction to wordplay, deliberately high ridiculous comparisons, which are sharply opposed by the prosaic conversational style.

The very idea of ​​the comic epic was dictated by the study of the poem by Luigi Pulci (1432-1481) "Morgante Maggiore".

The poems by Giovanni Batista Casti played an important role. According to commentators, the "Russian" songs of "Don Juan" [IX-X] represent a frank borrowing from Kasti's "Tatar poem" (1787). The hero of her novel, Tommaso Scadassale, was captured by the Baghdad caliph, stole a beauty from his harem and fled with her. After long adventures, he ends up in St. Petersburg and becomes the favorite of Catherine II.

"The history of the writing of Don Juan," declares the literary critic Boyd, "is the history of Byron's declaration of independence from Mereus and critics, from fashionable British sentimentality and from Tory politics." Driven by this desire, the poet wrote quickly. At the beginning of December, the twelfth canto was already written. In November 1822 there was a long-planned break with Murray, and on December 23 Byron hands over Don Juan to the publisher John Hunt, an active supporter of the radical English political system. By May 6, 1823, he finishes the sixteenth canto, after which he writes only fourteen stanzas of the unfinished seventeenth canto. The last chapters were published shortly after the poet's death on March 26, 1823. And the first complete edition of the poem was published in 1833, it also included the previously printed "dedication" to the poem, directed against the "two Robert"- Southey and Ministe know how to resist passions. He feels their attraction most of all and invariably follows it, without recalling either school lessons or life lessons, although these latter were very cruel for him. A night escape and a scandal - the end of his first romance, with Donna Julia, followed by

____________Anikin G.V., Mikhalskaya N.P. History of English Literature. M .: Higher school 1975.