Ingrid’s capstone paper is a brilliant hybrid project of creative work and critical analysis. In striking originality, she ties up Byron’s anti-hero Don Juan with Nietzche’s superman with insightful, convincing arguments. More impressively, she conveys her original arguments in what she calls a ‘mock essay’, which imitates Byron’s mock epic with her tongue-in-cheek verbal playfulness and performative intimacy with the reader, thereby completing a capstone that excels in both its shrewd critical insights and refreshingly creative vigour.

The notions of heroism and anti-heroism, or the collateral notions of an epic and an anti-epic, do not seem to in any way pertain to the ideas or themes of Byron’s Don Juan. Thus, we have the mock-heroic or its counterpart, mock epic, a satirical literary genre putting together a trivial subject and the grandiose style and conventions of classical epic poetry – so, putting two and two together. Indeed, there is an affinity between the two components that speaks for each other: the trivial subject begs the question of why an epic poem with such a trifling purpose could even be presented to the public eye, hence piquing the curiosity of its readers. The grandiose style, on the contrary, flags the mock ideology of the satirical genre, explicating that the grand genre would not exist with only its unorthodox subject.

This paper, therefore, puts together an academic satirical essay and the frivolity of a creative project, which then coalesces into a hybrid creative mock essay. The word “hybrid” here is crucial, as it not only explains the interchangeability between the opposing subject and style, but also provides a larger coverage for Don Juan’s version of heroism and anti-heroism. While Don Juan does demonstrate heroic acts at some points of the epic (such as saving the life of a Turkish girl during the Russian siege of Ismail), he remains mostly nonchalant and passive to his encounters. This conflation between heroism and ostensible anti-heroism is where the hybridity works wonders – if one would think outside the box, we could argue this way: Don Juan’s nonchalant passivity is in fact a handy survival tactic that allows him to survive his hardships while others perish in the shipwreck and cannibalism episodes in Canto 2. This hybridity being the footing of Juan’s character and circumstances, could also be applied to the religious skepticism of Byron’s own poetic motives and Nietzsche’s famous “God is Dead” theory. As Juan sides with neither of the two factions that appeared in the wake of God’s death (theoretically), both toxic in their own ways, his passivity is not just a survival strategy but has now become a transfigured rejection of traditional morality and self-affirmation, making him the perfect (yet distorted) archetype of Nietzsche’s Superman model.

The capstone project is certainly one of the most onerous writing assignments I have ever done, as it all started with one implausible and intangible point of a topic, which is like a small leaf dangling off a tree unrooted in soil. In other words, this topic I planned on writing was a precarious starting point that found no precedence except for the satirical essay form that emerged in 19^th-century England. With nothing to riff off, much of the semester I found myself wallowing in books and journal articles that would show me the affinity between Byron’s rake protagonist and Nietzsche’s self-affirming Superman, until at some point I had mustered enough confidence in my own satirical stance and voice that many arguments came my way. The process, therefore, was taxing. However, thanks to the rectification of inconsistencies of my arguments and the unwavering emotional support from Professor Li, this creative essay was made possible (and of course, plausible).

While being the most onerous project in my undergraduate studies, this project is also the most rewarding assignment I have ever done, as the commendations I had received (including of course this exemplary capstone project award) for my unorthodox project not only acknowledged my hard work and flair for satire, but they also heightened my fervor for literature. Though it is a shame that I will not be continuing my literature studies after graduation (as I will be pivoting into law instead), I am sure one day when I look back on my efforts I paid in the last four years that culminated in this capstone project, I will still think it a feather in my cap.