A new web site entitled "Don Juan or Europe unmasked"
http://www.don-juan.org is now on line in English, for free. Co-funded
by the European Commission and the French Ministry of National
Education, and writen by the "Association for Civilisation and European
Cultures" the site has been popular with scholars in its original French
for more than a year.
For the first time, the site establishes Don Juan as the guiding spirit
of a new educational tool for the exploration of European literature,
art, religion and society in the 17th century.
From Spain=B9s Golden Century to the France of the Sun King Louis XIV,
passing through the Italy of the Seicento and England in the Restoration
years, Don Juan provides a route map and decodes a turning-point in
history which saw the birth of modern Europe.
In using different versions of the Don Juan story as a setting-off point
- whether the best known stories of Moli=E8re, Thomas Corneille or Tirso
de Molina or the rare versions by Shadwell or de Preudarca - the site
leads the user on an unguarded voyage which illustrates the daily life
of the people of the 17th century.
While the Don Juan texts seem all to tell the same story, they tackle
with some subtlety the literature, society, art, philosophy and
political and religious events of their age. Learning to read between
the lines of these works opens a new dimension to each version, and
provides the means of discovering theatrical plays which "engage" the
spectator in the life of that time.
With more than 1,000 illustrated pages, this site offers a critical
analysis of works on Don Juan, both by country and by topic.
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