Vondel's Lucifer

Vondel, Joost van den, 1587-1679Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.4

Word count: 437K words
Chapters: 44

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Vondel's Lucifer by Joost van den VondelAuthor: Vondel, Joost van den, 1587-1679,Language: English, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Oct 7, 2011

Editor's review

Vondel's Lucifer is one of the most important tragedies of the seventeenth-century Dutch Golden Age, drawing on the legend of the falling morning star in the Book of Isaiah to stage the prelude to the rebellion and fall in heaven. It holds a distinguished place in Dutch literary history and has had a potential influence on later English literature's treatment of Satan, and is often read alongside Paradise Lost as part of the same thematic lineage. This electronic edition is an English translation that preserves the solemn scale of the verse drama and its chorus structure, so that the reader can feel the ceremonial gravity of classical tragedy and the tension of theological debate. Its highlight lies in rendering the rebels' psychological motives with strong political and rhetorical color rather than simple good-versus-evil binaries. Reading it requires patience to enter seventeenth-century verse language and biblical allusion; it suits readers interested in early modern European drama, religious literature, and comparative literature, and is not to be taken as light story reading.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars studying seventeenth-century Dutch literature and European Baroque drama
Comparative literature readers interested in the thematic lineage of Paradise Lost and the evolution of the Satan figure
Upper-level students taking courses in religious literature or the history of biblical reception
Patient drama readers comfortable with the scale of verse drama and the classical chorus form

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting fast-paced plot or modern novelistic narration
Beginners wholly unfamiliar with biblical allusion and seventeenth-century verse language
Readers who want only a Chinese translation and are unwilling to engage with an English verse drama text

Reading tips

First read the relevant passages of the Book of Isaiah and the basic outline of the Lucifer legend before entering the play.
Pay attention to the chorus's commentarial function and treat it as the key to the author's theological stance rather than as decoration.
Read it alongside relevant sections of Paradise Lost to compare how the two authors approach the same subject and their respective historical contexts.
English verse drama reads slowly; proceed act by act, and after each act revisit the key soliloquies and debate passages.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

What is the relationship between Lucifer and Paradise Lost?

Both draw on the legend of the fallen morning star, but Vondel's play predates Milton's epic and represents a different treatment within the same thematic lineage. Vondel focuses more on the political rhetoric and tragic structure of the heavenly rebellion, while Milton unfolds a grander theological narrative. Reading them together reveals how the same motif is transformed across different national literatures and genres.

Is this English translation difficult to read?

It is somewhat difficult. The text is an English translation of a seventeenth-century verse drama, with long sentences, dense allusions, and retained chorus passages. If you are familiar with biblical narrative and the basic forms of Baroque drama, it will go much more smoothly; otherwise, read introductory material first and proceed act by act rather than trying to finish in one sitting.

Will not knowing Dutch affect my understanding?

Reading the English translation itself does not require Dutch, but deeper study would be limited. Vondel's rhetoric and rhythm inevitably suffer in translation, and specific word choices and puns require reference to the Dutch original or scholarly annotated editions. For general readers, the English translation is sufficient to grasp the plot and themes.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Vondel, Joost van den, 1587-1679 Author

Joost van den Vondel (1587–1679) was a major poet and playwright in the history of Dutch literature. The library holds twelve of his works, including plays, poetry collections, and collected editions, which shows the variety of his literary output. Representative works include the tragedy Lucifer: Treurspel and its English rendering Vondel's Lucifer, as well as Vorstelijke warande der dieren, Davids Lofzang van Jeruzalem, and Hymnus of Lofzang van de Kristelijke. His plays often draw on biblical and classical traditions, and his verse is dignified and eloquent, combining religious reflection with dramatic tension; Lucifer has been seen as an influence on later literary treatments of the theme of the fall. Public information is limited, so biographical details are omitted here, with emphasis placed on the subjects and stylistic achievements of his works.