Don Juan and the Point of Honor

Is Don Juan a threat to society or one of its pillars? James Mandrell takes the old question seriously and turns it around, arguing that the legendary seducer works as a positive force within patriarchal culture rather than an agent of anarchy. He begins with the way Don Juan's charm seeps into the very interpretation of the texts he appears in, then moves through close readings of Spanish works from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, tracing the uses and abuses of language, seduction and its social undercurrents, and the stubborn code of honour that binds them together.

The closing chapters follow Don Juan into modern theories of culture, society and economic life, making a firm case that he is no museum piece. A rewarding study for students of Spanish literature and anyone curious about how desire and honour shape a story.