The textuality and intertextuality of Don Juan, Cantos XIII-XVII

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

‘Somewhere or other’, George Orwell wrote at the start of his Notes on Nationalism, ‘Byron makes use of the French word longueur, and remarks in passing that though in England we happen not to have the word, we have the thing in considerable profusion.’ This chapter looks at Byron’s use of travelogue in the English and Norman Abbey cantos of Don Juan. It begins with Orwell’s perceptions about vagrant life in England in Down and Out in Paris and London, and focuses on details in Byron’s manuscripts which were omitted from the published cantos. Orwell and Byron are similarly concerned with the exposure of social inequality and establishment cant through a close attention to linguistic conventions and to things. The evolution of swearing, the persistence of ghost stories, the poverty that exists in a wealthy nation, and soul-destroying ennui emerge as a vital satiric legacy 100 years after Byron was writing.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford handbook of Lord Byron
EditorsJonathon Shears, Alan Rawes
Place of PublicationOxford
PublisherOxford University Press
Chapter12
Pages171-186
Number of pages16
ISBN (Electronic)9780191893445
ISBN (Print)9780198808800
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Oct 2024

Keywords

  • Lord Byron
  • Don Juan
  • English cantos
  • George Orwell
  • Satire
  • Travel writing
  • Manuscripts
  • Ghost story

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