An announcement
To celebrate the bicentenary of the first publication of Byron’s “Don Juan” on 15 July 1819, I’ll be releasing an annotated and narrated version of Cantos I + II on 27 June, 2019.
The Narration of Don Juan
In brief: I’m preparing to publish (“free”) an annotated and narrated edition of Cantos I & II of Byrons’ Don Juan on the bicentenary of their first London publication this July. But “why narration”? Aren’t…
Death in Don Juan
If Don Juan is lots of fun, as I claim, why does death figure in it so frequently?
Don Juan: who needs it, who reads it?
In a previous article I lamented that Byron’s great comic poem Don Juan is not read as widely as it deserves. As the greatest comic poem in the language, Don Juan should have a much…
Don Juan: The Greatest Comic Poem in English
Why isn’t Don Juan more widely read? I examine three reasons in this series of posts and then suggest some remedies.
In defence of annotation
There is something rather odd about annotating poetry
Bad Lord Byron
You know, of course, that there’s a lot of pathetic rubbish that pretends to be a Byronic document, hoping to borrow a little of the popular lustre our author still enjoys. This 1949 film is…
Skin in the Game
John Murray’s recommendations to Byron deserve more respect as evidence of the publishing environment and not just of his own disposition. After all, he had “skin in the game”.
Don Juan sells despite Murray’s fears
When Cantos I and II of Don Juan were being prepared for the press, it was chiefly Murray’s advisers — especially Gifford — who kept up the lament about “so much beauty, so wantonly &…
Early reception of Don Juan
When the first two Cantos of Don Juan appeared on 15 July, 1819, readers immediately guessed — many had anticipated — the the authorship. The next day, the Morning Post carried a brief article sub-titled…