Don Juan and the Representation of Spiritual Sensuousness
1979; Oxford University Press; Volume: XLVII; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/jaarel/xlvii.4.627
ISSN1477-4585
Autores Tópico(s)Jungian Analytical Psychology
ResumoThe figure of Don Juan, traditionally envisioned as a promiscuous lover, may be reinterpreted as a spiritual erotic figure, providing an appropriate image for the representation of the sensuous character of religious life in artistic form. Previous treatments of the Don Juan theme in drama and literature reflect, on the whole, a negative conception of the figure, characterizing him variously as seductive, deceptive, immoral, irreligious, scheming, verbose, and absurd. In some versions Don Juan comes to receive no enjoyment from his seductions or he becomes the seduced rather than seducer. In an essay on the aesthetics of representing Don Juan, Soren Kierkegaard interprets the original figure as the embodiment of a daemonic, sensuous-erotic principle in opposition to spirit. As an immediate, inward, dynamic, and abstract force, this can be expressed artistically, he maintains, only in music. Nonmusical interpretations of Don Juan, in Kierkegaard's estimation, present him according to ethical categories instead of aesthetic ones; is, they make him an individual rather than an ideality, reflective rather than innocent and spontaneous, immoral rather than premoral or amoral, sensual rather than sensuous, a seducer rather than a seductive force of nature. Reconceptualized as a figure who embodies the religious in the form of a second immediacy (Kierkegaard), Don Juan may be seen as the representative of a spiritual sensuousness or desire for communion with others in love. Though ambiguous in outward manifestation, his love for many would then form a metaphor for the inclusive nature of spiritual love. Don Juan thus provides a model by which both males and females may gain a better image in relation to one another, as envisaged in a theology of love. The artistic representation of spiritual sensuousness may occur both in human life and in traditional modes of art. Conducive to the evoking of different qualities of sensuous feeling, musical forms-including jazz, rock, disco, and popular love songs-are especially suited for the expression of Sylvia Walsh Utterback is associated with the Department of Religion at Emory University and currenty teaches at Clark College. She has written several articles and reviews on Kierkegaard, including an analysis of his dialectic in Kierkegaardiana and a review of Seren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers, Vols. 3-7, in a recent issue of JAAR. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.104 on Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:45:25 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 628 Sylvia W. Utterback spiritual sensuousness. Contemporary theology, which has neglected the medium of music, needs to give attention to this mode for the representation of religious life. For aesthetic, ethical, and religious dimensions of life are united in love. on Juan, a perennial figure in Western art, has undergone considerable change in characterization. Originally he was envisioned as a great lover-Mozart credits him with the seduction of a thousand and three in Spain alone. Dramatic and literary treatments of the Don Juan theme present, embellish, and alter this image in a variety of ways, but with a distinct tendency toward a negative evaluation of the figure. Writing on the aesthetics of portraying Don Juan, Soren Kierkegaard sees the essence of Don Juan's original conception in his being the embodiment of a daemonic erotic force; this can be expressed artistically, he maintains, only in music. Holding dramatic-literary adaptations categorically alter the original conception of Don Juan, Kierkegaard sketches an appropriate interpretation of Don Juan in literary form in his Diary of the Seducer. Over against these characterizations of Don Juan, but in continuity with aspects of Kierkegaard's aesthetic and religious thought, I wish to explore the possibility of interpreting Don Juan in yet another way, as a spiritual erotic figure, which may be represented artistically in human life as well as in traditional art form, especially in music. Important theological overtones result from such a reconception, as a spiritual Don Juan provides an appropriate image for directing attention to the sensuous character of religious life, to the inclusiveness of love in human relations, and to the significance of music as an aesthetic medium for expressing passion. Representative Treatments of Don Juan in Drama and Literature Don Juan's odyssey of characterization in dramatic and literary treatments begins with Tirso de Molina's drama, El Burlador de Sevilla (c. 1616). This work presents Don Juan as a dynamic and relatively unreflective figure who uses deception and trickery in seduction, but in a rather innocent, playful manner. For this reason it may well be, as several critics have suggested, Tirso's Don Juan qualifies as a trickster figure than as a seducer (I. Singer: 41; Lowther: 65-66; Weinstein: 13) / 1/. Nonchalant and unthinking about the consequences of his acts, Don Juan repeatedly replies to warnings of death and damnation for his sexual offenses: Plenty of time for that (in Mandel: 53, 61, 62, 71, 86). The formulaic repetition of this phrase throughout the work underscores the play's pious intention: coming as it does in the period of transition from the Middle Ages, it is a play, yet, as editor Oscar Mandel has aptly observed, more play than morality (43-44). Wittily ironic in its manner of treating the serious matter of Don Juan's end, the play has Don Juan jokingly call for the very judgment befalls him, saying, If I do not keep my word, let God send a man to ensnare and kill me. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.104 on Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:45:25 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
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