Don Juan

Héroe de Leyenda - Héroes del Silencio

Tr. Spa-Eng. from a review by Travilais

 If Lord Byron created Don Juan in response to the lack of heroes and heroic individuals, then it means that the time to write about heroes as they appeared in Virgil's and Homer's books is gone forever. For now we can understand that, first, that kind of heroes never really existed. Juan is not related in any way to the heroic figures of ancient literature, the greatest achievement of Don Juan is sleeping with another man's wife. And while this achievement, which you cannot relate at all to winning a great battle or stealing fire from the gods, is oblivious to the actions of previous heroes, the difference is that Juan runs away when he is caught and apparently makes no effort to return and save Julia from the fate imposed upon her: the convent. 

 Juan does not express any heroic feature and maybe this is Byron's message. Heroes, in fact, are those who rise to the circumstances they face. In fact, they are those who respond heroically to unexpected situations. But in reality, very few are those who respond heroically, most prefer to escape from circumstances. And at a time when the best poet of the nation took the easier route and set against the radical beliefs of his youth, it may be Byron is saying to us that only men (or women) truly exceptional end up being heroic. And there are very few of these in any era. So maybe it is time to focus on the poetry of people who are not heroic, but look like the real nature of humanity. 

 It may be Don Juan is the first literature anti-hero, and maybe this is what Byron tried to create when he wrote in a heroic way once more about a character so clearly not heroic.