إنه دون كيشوت يا سادة؛ الرجل الذي حارب «طواحين الهواء» تلك الشياطين المجنحة؛ مصدر الشرور في الدنيا! قبل أن يتيح له القدر أن يخوض معركته الضارية ضد هذا الجيش الجرار من «قطيع الأغنام» ليثبت فيها بطولته ويخلِّد إسمه، واللتان باءتا بالفشل بسبب خصومه الأشرار من «السحرة»؛ ليحرموه من نصره المؤكد.

المسرحية مليئة بالإسقاطات التي تدعو للتأمل؛ ومع ذلك فهي ممتعة وطريفة إلى حد كبير، خاصة حوارات دون كيشوت مع تابعه المسكين سانشو.

بعد الإنتهاء من القراءة، والتأمل قليلا؛ أدركت أن هذا الدون لم يكن مجنونا إلى هذا الحد؛ فنحن بعد ربعمائة عام من أول إصدار لهذه الرواية؛ مازلنا نحارب طواحين هواء "دون كيشوت"، لازلنا في دوامة الأحلام والأوهام.. منعزلين عن العالم، نرفض كل شيء، ندّعي حمل لواء الحق والعدل والقيم النبيلة، ونبني أعداء من خيالنا، ثم نبتدع مبررات لهزائمنا المتكررة منهم، لنبرئ أنفسنا، فيزداد الوضع سوءً ولا جديد!

This book wore my @ss out! It's funny and good and I love tomes but I don't think I was totally ready this time. Whew ......



The narrator was great on audio but I couldn't keep up in my book for reasons so I just listened.



Happy Reading!

Mel ❤️

Delightful Volume II, but Volume I is Tedious



Illustration above: Don Quixote goes mad from reading books on chivalry. Engraving by Gustave Dore, Public Domain.

"A world of disorderly notions, picked out of his books, crowded into his imagination."

Classic Novel about a Crazy Self-Appointed "Knight Errant" and His Squire

Don Quixote Volume I was published in Spanish in 1605; Volume II was published in Spanish in 1615. They were published in English in 1612 and 1620, respectively.

This classic novel needs little introduction, as most people who aren't living under a rock have heard of Don Quixote, the mad so-called "knight errant" and his faithful proverb-quoting squire Sancho Panza, who is himself a mixture of good sense and utter stupidity. Don Quixote, of course, is in love with the "peerless beauty" of Dulcinea del Toboso, a lady who he has actually never met. Nor do the readers meet her, as she never makes a real appearance in the novel. It's not even clear she exists. She might just be a figment of Don Quixote's imagination.

Last Part of Book the Best Part

Volume II, especially the last part of it in which Don Quixote and his often block-headed squire, Sancho Panza, encounter the duke and duchess, is quite funny and memorable.

But, unfortunately, one has to slog through hundreds of tedious pages (Volume I and the first part of Volume II) to get to the good stuff.

Volume I is Largely Tedious, But Still Has Some Fun Stuff Here and There

I found Volume I to be pretty tiresome. There are, of course, such famous incidents as Don Quixote's battle with the windmills (which he mistakes for giants); and the adventure of the fulling mills (in which our heroes hear very loud and terrifying noises during the night which turn out to be the noises of mills which manufacture cloth); and a few other diverting stories in Volume I.

There is some funny stuff here, as when Sancho inadvertently goes to the bathroom while he rides, and Don Quixote remarks, "Sancho, it strikes me thou art in great fear."

"I am," answered Sancho; "but how does your worship perceive it now more than ever?"

"Because just now thou smellest stronger than ever, and not of ambergris"

But there were also such yawners as "THE NOVEL OF THE ILL-ADVISED CURIOSITY", a seemingly endless story involving Anselmo's scheme to prove that his wife, Camilla, is faithful. Anselmo involves his best friend, Lothario, in this enterprise. (At least I now know the origin of the term lothario). It's a lengthy and boring tale which contributes nothing to the main plotline about Don Quixote. I'm guessing that Cervantes included this type of stuff because his audience (17th century Spaniards) enjoyed it.

Volume II is Where the Laughs Are, Especially When Our Heroes Meet the Duke and Duchess

The book really perks up in the last third. Don Quixote, who's gone mad from reading books about chivalry, and thinks he's a "knight errant" who's job is to protect damsels in distress and help the unfortunate; and Sancho Panzo, along with Quixote's half-starved horse, Rocinante, and Sancho's beloved mule, Dapple, set off on their "Third Sally". By this time, both have become famous, almost legendary characters.

They encounter a certain duke and duchess, who, while not malicious, decide that they can't resist having some fun at the expense of Sancho Panza and Don Quixote.

So, they set up an endless and elaborate series of practical jokes involving our two heroes, including making Sancho the governor of an "island" (probably not even an island at all). There's a somewhat tiresome (but also occasionally funny) passage where Don Quixote gives Sancho endless counsels on how to behave when he is a governor. It includes such pearls of wisdom as "Eat not garlic nor onions, lest they find out thy boorish origin by the smell". Sancho lasts ten days at this post, dispensing astounding and Solomonic judgements on his subjects' disputes, before he quits. He quits when an "invasion" (staged by the duke and duchess) frightens him out of his wits and he decides he's best rid of the responsibility of governing.

They have quite a few other hilarious adventures.

Sancho's habits irritate Don Quixote. He loves his sleep and his food and he is in the habit of constantly quoting proverbs. Don Quixote frequently abuses Sancho, calling him a numbskull. But the loyal Sancho sticks with Don Quixote (except for short periods of time, as when he was governing the island).

In some ways, this book was way ahead of its time. In others, not so much...

Cervantes' Female Characters Were not The Best

Cervantes' female characters were a bore, although certainly his chauvinistic attitudes towards women were a reflection of his time and place.

I thought I would scream if I heard one more tale about a young, beauteous, chaste, and virtuous woman with romantic difficulties (these interchangeable females, who had no personalities, constituted the vast majority of Cervantes' women).

There were a few main variations on this story: the husband who tries to marry a second woman while he's still married to a first woman; the man who tries to force an unwilling woman (often married to another) to make love to him or marry him; the girl who is in love with someone she can't marry (often because her parents don't approve) and the girl who wears men's clothes as a disguise (usually to travel safely).

These got really boring after being repeated over and over.

Another type of female character is the duenna (chaperone). These are more humorous. Cervantes obviously dislikes these types and makes them dowdy, pompous, and even terrifying.

Teresa Panza (Sancho's wife) is a caricature of the peasant's wife: loud, coarse, and not too clever. (Inconsistency alert: in the audio--but not in the text--she is called Joan in the first volume and Teresa in the second).

The duchess was probably the most interesting woman in the book, but we learn little about her, other than that she finds Sancho and Don Quixote to be very diverting characters.

Cervantes and the Moors

Cervantes is far more civilized about the Moors (Spanish Arabs) than he is about women. He evidently views them as highly intelligent, cultivated, and rational people. However, Cervantes inexplicably has Ricote, a minor Moorish character, praising the Spanish king's decision to eject the Moors from Spain. This may have been politically correct in Cervantes' Spain. However, it makes no sense for a character to praise a decision that overturns his entire life.

"Don Quixote" Might be the First Postmodern Novel

In other ways, Cervantes is way ahead of his time. In some respects, Don Quixote is the first postmodern novel.

It's very meta. There are plenty of tales, novels, and plays within the novel.

And Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra gets dragged into the story (both directly and indirectly) to humorous effect. The mythical author of the Don Quixote stories, Cide Hammett Benengeli (evidently Arabic) supposedly takes his tale from a fictitious Arabic manuscript. Also Cide Hammett disparages Alonso de Avellanada, who actually wrote an unauthorized version of Volume II, basing it on Cervantes' successful Volume I, which had already been published. Cide Hammett calls Avellanada "the other author" or "that pretended Tordesillesque writer"). Cide Hammett claims he is the only true author of these tales. (Apparently Cide Hammett is a sort of alter ego for Cervantes).

There is also a sly reference to Cervantes himself. On page 85 a barber mentions "The 'Galatea' of Miguel de Cervantes". "Galatea" is an actual novel written by Cervantes. When Don Quixote's friends are going through his books, trying to discard the ones that made him insane, they come across this book.

The curate remarks,

"That Cervantes has been for many years a great friend of mine, and to my knowledge he has had more experience in reverses than in verses. His book has some good invention in it, it presents us with something but brings nothing to a conclusion: we must wait for the Second Part it promises: perhaps with amendment it may succeed in winning the full measure of grace that is now denied it; and in the mean time do you, senor gossip,keep it shut up in your own quarters."

These types of "in" jokes are very much the sort of thing we find in postmodern novels. So Cervantes was certainly innovative.

Cervantes Really Needed an Editor

I'm glad I read this, because it is a classic. But it was a chore to slog through, and it's far too long. I doubt I'll be reading it again (although who knows; sometimes books like this improve on a second reading).

Three Different Texts--Very Distracting.

My reading was undoubtedly hampered by having three texts, all of which were different. The audio's text differed from the text of the ebook (which I downloaded from Gutenberg) and the text of the Kindle edition, also from Gutenberg, diverged from both audio and ebook. (I stopped reading along in the Kindle edition because my phone has been misbehaving lately).

Lousy Translations

Also, it seemed the English translations were all pretty poor. The Gutenberg ebook was sprinkled with untranslated Spanish words and other words not commonly used in English. All of the translations were unnecessarily verbose and pompous, using elaborate phrasing where simplicity would have been better.

I have heard rumors of a new translation which is supposed to be better, but I'm not sure those rumors are correct. In any case, I wasn't able to get a copy of it for this reading.

Not Simon Vance's Best Audio

It pains me to criticize Simon Vance, as he is usually the gold standard for audio readers. But this is probably the only Simon Vance audio I've heard that I didn't completely love.I think it might have been one of his earliest readings (2004) and he read it under a pseudonym (Robert Whitfield). He voices Sancho as an English plebian and Quixote as a British aristo. I'm kind of ambivalent about this. I think I would have preferred them to sound more Spanish. However, Sancho does seem funnier and funnier as the audio goes on, so Vance's reading wasn't entirely unsuccessful.

So much has been said about this book by so many people much smarter than I will ever be - so I will focus on this single point: Don Quixote is considered 'mad' by everyone - yet he is the only one who always tells the truth - and those who label him 'mad' take advantage of this. To me the central question is this: must one be mad to tell the truth in a world of liars? Highest recommendation.

YouTube kanalımda Cervantes'in hayatı, Don Kişot ve kronolojik okuma sırası hakkında bilgi edinebilirsiniz:
https://youtu.be/FgMisPxqTFk

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Don Quijote : Herkese merhaba, ben Don Quijote, namıdiğer Mahzun Yüzlü Şövalye! 400 küsür yaşındayım. Yani şu an bu yazıyı okuyan herhangi birinden çok daha yaşlı bir kitabım. Bu 400 yıl içerisinde benden sonra çok şey değişti, içimde silahtarım Sancho Panza ile yaşadığım serüvenleri anlatmama rağmen bütün romanların başlangıcı sayılabilirim.

Derken, o anda bu incelemenin esas yazarının Seyyid Hamid Goodreadscani olduğu anlaşılır. Fakat Don Quijote'nin asırlar boyu konuştuğuna kimse inanmayacağından ötürü ve yakılıp sansürlenmesinden korkulduğu için Don Quijote'nin serüvenlerini kendi ağzından aktaracağız. Şimdi onun serüvenlerine geri dönelim.

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Don Quijote : Sizler de kimsiniz, yoksa yel değirmenleri büyülendi ve size mi dönüştü?

Kitaplar: Pek de öyle sayılmaz, sevgili Don Quijote. Aslında senden sonra yel değirmenlerine saldıran pek çok kitap yazıldı. Sen 17.yy'da engizisyona ve sisteme tek başına kaldırdın, bunun da adını yel değirmenleri koydun. Bizler de 19. ve 20. yy'ın yel değirmenlerine baş kaldıranlarız. Sen, tek başına yel değirmenlerine saldırınca bir şey olmamış olabilir. Ama kırmızı sakallı topal karıncalar içindeki şarkıyı keşfederse, Winston Büyük Birader'i sevmezse, Katip Bartleby pasif direnişte bulunup ona edilen dikteleri yapmayı tercih etmezse, gecenin sonuna doğru yolculuk ettiğimiz besini militarizm olan bu hayatta silah ve kalem arasında kalırsak, biz de bir gün içimizde yel değirmenlerine karşı birlik olma inancını taşıyabiliriz!

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Don Quijote : Sizler de kimsiniz, yoksa sizler de benim gibi olmayan sevgiyi, benle birlikte Dulcinea'mı aramaya mı geldiniz?

Kitaplar: Tam olarak üstüne bastın efendim. Sen olmasaydın biz de olmazdık. Çünkü Aylak Adam olmayan sevgiyi arıyordu, Atılgan'ın dediğine göre öyle bir sevgi dünyada yoktu. Dostoyevski erken dönem eserlerinde sürekli ulaşılamayan Rus kadınını anlattı. Marcel Proust, Kayıp Zamanın İzinde serisinde bir insana mı yoksa bir zamana mı ait olduğumuzu araştırdı. Onun da senin gibi vaktini kaybettiği olmayan bir sevgisi vardı. Biz de aslında senden sonra, seninle birlikte kendi Dulcinea'mızı arayanlardanız!

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Don Quijote : Dostum, aslında seni de tanımıyorum ama nedense sana karşı içimde bir sıcaklık oluştu. Neden dersin?

Fareler ve İnsanlar : Çünkü içimde anlattığım George ve Lennie adlı karakterlere çok benzeyen karakter tasarımları kullanmışsın! Sen ve Sancho Panza arasındaki akıl-delilik, zeka-fiziksel güç, zenginlik-fakirlik karşıtlıkları aynı benim kitabımda kullandığım gibiydi. Çünkü sen Sanayi Devrimi'nin getireceği ve toplum hayatına etki edeceği o bütün tez ve antitezlerin başlangıcısın!

O anda bu incelemenin yazarı olan Seyyid Hamid Goodreadscani Don Quijote'yi kendisinden sonraki domino taşlarının yanına götürür.

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Don Quijote : Aman, aman, aman! Devriliyorum, neler oluyor?

Sefiller, Suç ve Ceza, Niteliksiz Adam : Edebiyat da bir domino gibidir Don Quijote. Sen ise roman dünyasının dominosunun ilk taşısın. Belki de sen olmasaydın Sefiller'deki devrim ruhu, barikat direnişleri ve Jean Valjean karakteri olmazdı. Sen olmasaydın Raskolnikov baltayı indiremezdi belki o kadına ya da Niteliksiz Adam'da Ulrich bir toplumun çöküşüyle birlikte insanların da kendi içindeki çöküşlerine şahit olamayabilirdi. Yazarların bir döneme ışık tutması gerektiğini biz senden öğrendik!

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Don Quijote : Sizler de kimsiniz, yoksa sizler de beni yazan Seyyid Hamid Badincani gibi sizler de el yazmalarından mı oluşuyordunuz? Sansürden ve yakılmaktan mı korktunuz?

Gece, Ses ve Öfke : Tam olarak öyle değil, Don Quijote. Aslında postmodernizmin oluşmasını da bir nebze sana borçluyuz. Çünkü Cervantes yerine kitabını yazan başka bir isim kullanman aslında senin roman dünyası ile gerçek dünya arasına bir katman koyduğunu, yani üstkurmacayı yansıtıyor. Metinlerarasılık, üstkurmaca ve postmodernizmin başlangıcını biz senden öğrendik!

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Don Quijote : Sizler de kimsiniz, Sancho sen tanıyor musun bunları?

Sancho Panza : Hayır efendim ama gözüm bir yerden ısırıyor açıkçası, bu kitaplar da büyülenmiş olabilir.

Dava ve Şato : Yok, yok. Biz büyülenmiş olanlar değiliz. Büyülü olan kitaplar birazdan gelecek. Sancho, aslında senin bizi tanıman gerekirdi. Çünkü biz de senin yaptığın valilik gibi içimizde ideal bürokrasi ve devlet düzenini, insanın bu siyasi düzen arasında kaybolmasını ve insanın kendi davasını bir ruh şatosunda aramasını anlatmıştık. O yüzden Seyyid Hamid'i Max Brod'a çok yakın görüyoruz diyebiliriz.

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Don Quijote : Size kanım çok ısındı, neden oldu bu sizce?

Cardenio : Ben zaten senin içindeki Cardenio karakterinden esinlenme bir oyunum, sevgili Don Quijote. O yüzden olmasın?

Sis : Benim de yazarım aslında senin gibi ana karakterim olan Augusto ile konuşmuştu. Sen de içinde Don Quijote'nin iki cildinden ilk kitabı okumuştun, hatırlasana Don Quijote! Hatta Unamuno'nun kendi yazdığı türe "nivola" demesi ve o güne kadarki türlere tamamen eleştiri sayılabilecek bir tür ortaya koyması gibi, sen de şövalye romanlarına, Doğu öykülerine, Bizans romansına ve çağın edebiyat anlayışına tepki olarak bu kitabı yazmıştın!

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Don Quijote : Dostum Sancho, işte bu kitaplar gerçekten de büyülü. Bu kitaplardan bana aşırı büyü geçiyor şu an!

Yüzyıllık Yalnızlık, Sevgili Arsız Ölüm : Tam da doğru noktaya bastın Don Quijote, atın olan Rocinante'yi o noktadan çek! Çünkü bizler, içimizde, büyülü gerçekçilikle birlikte tuhaf olanın sıradanlaşmasını anlattık. Senin mağaraya inme serüveninde yaşadığın gerçek ile hayal arasındaki uçları, biz de karakterlerimize yaşatmak istedik. Edebiyatın büyüyle ve halklar arasında anlatılan batıl inançlar, efsanelerle birlikte daha yükseğe ve özgünlüğe kavuşabileceğine inandık!

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Don Quijote : Ah, offf! Ne yapıyorsun, sen de kimsin? Niye bana vuruyorsun??

Otomatik Portakal : Ben şiddeti anlatmayı senin sayende öğrendim Don Quijote. İçimde anlattığım şiddet kültürü ve senin girdiğin her mekanda sana atılan dayakları tamamen senden çektim aldım ve içimdeki karakterlere uyguladım. Çünkü bunu çok sevmiştim.

O anda bütün kitaplar : Sen bize modernizmi, postmodernizmi, distopyayı, büyülü gerçekçiliği, Kafka'yı, Dostoyevski'yi, Robert Musil'i, Marcel Proust'u, Marquez'i, Unamuno'yu, Yaşar Kemal'i öğrettin Don Quijote! Sana çok şey borçluyuz. Senin bu yaptığın iyiliği hiçbir zaman unutmayacağız.

O anda Seyyid Hamid Goodreadscani, bu incelemenin sonunun gelmesi gerektiğini anladı. Çünkü Don Quijote, bütün bunları duyduktan sonra amacına ulaştığını anlamıştı. Bütün o şövalye romanlarına ve engizisyona korkusuzca karşı çıkan bu Mahzun Yüzlü Şövalye artık huzur içinde uyuyabilirdi.

“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”



Renowned the world over for its portrayal of a delusional knight-errant, Don Quixote, and his squire, Sancho Panza, Cervantes’ masterpiece is funny, tragic and way too relatable. The line between wisdom and madness is flipped on its head over and over. Published in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote still amazes! I’d read the first part of Don Quixote several times, but never read the complete novel before now. While reading the first part gets the reader most of the iconic scenes from this work (most will recognize Don Quixote battling windmills, or mistaking a peasant for a lady, for instance), a complete read turns Don Quixote and Sancho into old friends that is consequently enjoyable and satisfying.

Don Quixote is unable to revive the age of chivalry in 16th century Spain. Already, living according to these codes is antiquated. However, because the first part of the Don Quixote’s ‘history’ was published during his lifetime, when he takes up knight-errantry again he finds that he and his squire are famous for their many adventures. It is a dubious fame for which he and Sancho are continuously pranked. The message is clear (for me) in this part: Is it better to believe in something and see life as an adventure or not be fooled? What would be lost if Don Quixote’s sanity were restored? So much could be said. Don Quixote is admittedly a long read, but very worthwhile!

IN THE END we chose Rutherford for our buddy read. But my buddy was slain by Quixote a couple of hundred pages in. I managed to complete the first novel of Quixote published 1605. The second novel was published 1615.

**The longer review is posted with Don Quixote Part 1 translated by Rutherford**

——————-//////


Doing a buddy read on this baby bambino bebé

One star means, here at GR, that the reader did not like the book. No, I do not like this book. IF I cannot bear to listen to it to the very end how can I even say it was OK? I have listened to seven of thirty-six hours of the unabridged audiobook version translated by Tobias Smollett and narrated by the talented Robert Whitfield/Simon Vance. I cannot continue. I have given this enough of my time. My good friends know that I often will struggle through a book that is displeasing me. Why? To give it a fair chance; some books do turn around. My patience is tested to the limit with this book. In addition, let it be noted that even a superb narrator cannot save a book if you don't like how it is written. Robert Whitfield does a fantastic job.

I found the book tedious, extremely wordy and repetitive. It is a composite of many stories relating the escapades of the knight errant, Don Quixote, and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is always, in every story depicted, the idealist, a worthy knight bent on fighting for good and honor, fighting for women and men who are unfairly treated. He is fighting against all injustice, in whatever form it may be. That is all fine and dandy; but he is delusional and sees injustice, inequity and dishonor where it does not exist. He is an honorable man fighting against problems that in fact do not exist. In contrast, Sancho Panza offers us the realist's interpretation of events. (That they see the world differently does make their friendship all the more wonderful!) Each story/episode introduces the reader to new characters, new events, but there is a huge similarity in what is to be drawn from the separate stories.

I do not enjoy short stories so I am not the ideal reader for this book! If you do enjoy short stories it may be enjoyable to listen to one, laugh at the humor depicted in the events and the naivety of Don Quixote and smile at the wonderful friendship one sees between the knight errant and his squire. Then put the book aside for a later time when you feel like listening to another story. However do keep in mind that the message imparted is to all extent and purposes the same in all the related stories.

The stories are cute, the lines are humorous and the book well depicts Spanish society and ways of thinking in the early 17th Century. It was published in two volumes, the first in 1605 and the second in 1615. To quote from Wiki: "Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published."

But I personally have had enough. This is in fact the second time I have tried to read the book. My grandmother had a wonderful hardback with great illustrations. It attracted me, I tried to like it, but failed that time too. That was a good fifty years ago.

I am NOT judging the book. I am telling you merely how I personally react to this book. Yes, it can be seen as amazing, as a break-through piece of writing, but it is not with this criterion I rate books.

Yedi yıl önce okuduğum bu klasik için 2. okuma yapmak istiyorum, çünkü ilk okuma özet kitaptı ve yetersiz kaldı. Bu okuduğum kitap 2 cilt tam baskı. (Mayıs 2022)

İKİNCİ OKUMA

Jale Parla’nın kitabın başındaki sunuş yazısı mükemmel bir şekilde, kitabın ne olduğunu, ne olamayacağını çok anlaşılır bir dille anlatmış. Bu açıklama üzerine yorum yapmak hem gereksiz hem de faydasız bir çaba olur. J. Parla’nın açıklamaları ile kitap çok daha kıymetli olmuş . Çünkü yazarın kullandığı teknikler (kurgudan ötede bir şey), örneğin anlatıcıların sayısı ve kimlikleri, bazı yerlerde “hikâyenin tercümanı, bu bölümün gerçekliğinden şüphe ettiğini söylemiştir” tarzı araya girişler, okura hitap şekilleri ve benzeri birçok yeni tarzın kullanılmış olması, roman geleneğinin yaygın olmadığı 16. yy da yazılmış bu kitabı emsalsiz kılmaktadır.

Cervantes’in Don Quijote’yi yazarken kötü edebiyatın tipik bir örneği olan şövalye romanlarını alaya almak amacıyla yola çıkmış olduğunu, yani yazdıklarının temelinde “ironi” yatmakta olduğunu, herhangi bir fikir ve inancı öne çıkarmadan, ya da bir konuda zorlayıcı bir söz söylemeden tümüyle anlam arayışı içinde bu kitabı yazmış olduğunu, bunu yaparken de anlamsızlık ile ironi arasındaki ince kırılgan duvarı özenle korumuş olduğunu söylemeden geçemiyorum. Bunun yanısıra, iyi-kötü, adalet-haksızlık, iyi hristiyanlık, yoksulluk, eşitsizlik, silah mı-kalem mi sorgulaması gibi birçok konu yazarın hedeflerini oluşturmuştur.

Cervantes’in, yaşadığı yıllarda Don Quijote’nin çeşitli baskılarından hemen hemen hiç para kazanamamasına rağmen ünü tüm İspanya’ya yayılmıştır. Üstelik anlatılan serüvenlerin sahte devamları yazılmıştır. Özellikle Avellanada adlı bir şahıs tarafından yazılmış olan ikinci ciltteki sahte Don Quijote serüvenleri Cervantes’i çok üzmüş ve sinirlendirmiştir. İlkinden on yıl sonra ikinci cildi yazmıştır. İlk ciltte yapılan mantık hataları (ki yol kazası denebilir) ikinci ciltte birkaç kez düzeltilmiş, örneğin Karakaçan’ın kaybolduğunu unutan yazarın bunu düşünmeden hikayenin ileride biryerinde S. Panza’yı eşeğin üstüne oturtması gibi.

İlk cilt kanaatimce çok başarılıdır. İkinci ciltte yazar daha deneyimli ve bilgili olmasına rağmen Dük ve Düşes’in şatosunda geçen serüvenler gibi tekrarlara düşülmüş, ilk ciltteki samimiyete ve mizahi yaklaşıma biraz uzak düşmüştür. Sadece ikili arasındaki atasözleri söyleme merakı ve yarışı bu cildi ilk ciltten daha zengin kılmıştır. Neticede okuyacaksanız lütfen özet baskılarından uzak durun, tam baskı tek cilt veya ilk cilt halindeki eksiksiz baskısını okuyun. Çünkü bu kitap tam bir efsane.

“Don Quixote”, I answered, and looked into almost shocked facial expressions, followed by quiet, uncomfortable giggling.

What was the question? If my friends at the coffee table had asked: “What is your favourite book, Lisa?”, and received that answer, they would have nodded knowingly, sympathetically, adding some random fact about the 1000+-page-classic I claimed to love more than the countless other books I have read. But that was not the question. It was:

“With which literary character do you identify most?”

I was not the first one around the table to answer, and there had been plenty of identification with the brave, the strong, the pretty, the good, the clever heroes and heroines of the literary universe before it was my turn. I had time to think, and to think carefully.

There is no one like Don Quixote to make me feel the connection between my reading self and my real life. Who else loved books to the extent that he was willing to immerse himself completely in the illusion of his beloved fiction, against all reason? Who else struggled to survive and keep the spirit of beautiful ideas in the face of ugly, mean, bullying reality?

Why was there such awkwardness when I said I identified with Don Quixote? Because he is clumsy, he is bullied by the brutal ordinary people who can’t stand a mind focused on literary thoughts and idealist ideas, he is treated badly and made fun of. He is so very UNCOOL! He makes a silly figure in the ordinary society where appearance and participation in shared activities are more important to social survival and reputation than reflective thinking and expression of individuality. He is off the main track, and that is only acceptable to the world if you are a strong, fighting, violent hero, not if you are a harmless, yet ridiculous dreamer.

If you can’t be one of the group, you have to be stronger, more violent than the majority. Just being different is the most dangerous, the most hated thing in the world. Still!

But I don’t think there was much choice for Don Quixote. He had seen the raging madness of the world, and made a decision:

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!”

In the most famous scene of all, the dialogue between Sancho Pansa and Don Quixote reveals the deliberate choice to see more in life than just the mere practicalities of food provision and business:

"What giants?" Asked Sancho Pansa.
"The ones you can see over there," answered his master, "with the huge arms, some of which are very nearly two leagues long."
"Now look, your grace," said Sancho, "what you see over there aren't giants, but windmills, and what seems to be arms are just their sails, that go around in the wind and turn the millstone."
"Obviously," replied Don Quixote, "you don't know much about adventures.”

If you only have one life to live, why choose the boredom of reality when your mind can create an imaginary adventure of giant proportions?

What a wonderful match they are, the idealist dreamer and his realist companion, complementing each other perfectly while exploring the real world in the same way Dante and Virgil complement and support each other’s thoughts while they explore the fantastic fiction of Afterlife in the Divine Comedy.

To me there is more heroism in seeing a perfect horse in the lame Rosinante, or a beautiful woman in the ugly, mean Dulcinea, than there could ever be in the strongest superhero riding the most powerful horse and gaining the love of the most stunning lady. That is a no-brainer, while it requires deeper thinking skills to see the adventure and beauty in average, weak, ugly life.

The moment Don Quixote turns ridiculous, and sad and “quixotic” in my world, is the moment before death when he renounces his ideal in favour of the mainstream understanding of Christian “comme il faut”, breaking Sancho Pansa’s heart, who, in his own, realist and practical way, understands the world’s need for characters like Don Quixote.

The sanity Don Quixote gains when he dictates his last testament is the capitulation of the tired, worn-out spirit. He has already stopped living.

Another of my favourite windmill-fighting characters, Jean Barois, foresaw the weakness of old age and wrote his testament to the world at the height of his intellectual power, thus haunting the bigot winners of his dying body afterwards with his words of idealistic power from the other side of the grave.

And for all those who smile at Don Quixote: it is much braver, and harder, to fight inanimate, mechanised windmills than fire-spitting dragons!

And: you have to have more than an ounce of Don Quixote in you to try to review this book of superlatives!

یک اثر شگفت‌انگیز، سرگرم کننده و تامل برانگیز.
خواندن دن کیشوت یک تجربه کم بدیله. شرح روایت‌های فردی که با داشتن افکاری بلند، ضمیری پاک و قلبی امیدوار، جنونش او را در راه برآوردن آمالش به بیراهه میکشد. هنر سروانتس اینه که علی رغم اینکه روایت‌هایش خنده بر لبان مخاطبش میاره همزمان به گونه‌ای ناخودآگاه او را دچار اندوه و تامل می‌کنه. به نظرم بخش‌هایی که دیگران سعی داشتن دن کیشوت را به با قراردادنش در موقعیت‌هایی دروغین به سخره بگیرند و اسباب تفریح خود را با واکنش‌های جنون انگیز دن کیشوت فراهم کنند و در واقع این اتفاقات در مسیری غیر از اراده دن کیشوت بر او حادث میشده، دردناک تر از سایر بخش‌هایی بود که دن کیشوت شخصاً و با اراده و آگاهی خود وارد ماجراهای جنون‌آمیزش می‌شد. جلد دوم کتاب کم کشش‌تر از جلد اول کتاب بود ولی در مجموع می‌تونم بگم با یک اثر پرکشش و گیرا روبرو هستیم. کتابی که تونسته از قرن 16 ام تا به امروز در ادبیات ماندگار باشه و مورد اقبال خوانندگان بیشماری از سراسر جهان قرار بگیره. ترجمه کتاب توسط محمد قاضی به قدری سلیس روان و دوست داشتنیه که باورش برای من سخته که اگر سروانتس میخواست شخصاً به زبان فارسی بنویسه نتیجه کار اینچنین درخشان می‌شد.
The cares of others kill the ass
ترجمه محمد قاضی : غم همسایه خوردن، خر را هم از پا در می‌آورد :)
در پایان هم نقل قولی از لرد بایرون شاعر و سیاستمدار انگلیسی در خصوص این اثر شگفت انگیز :

دن کیشوت از هر رمانی غم‌انگیزتر است و به خصوص از آن رو غم‌انگیز است که ما را به خنده می‌آورد.

My god this was a long book and when I told my boyfriend I was reading this he tried to tell me I should read Das Kapital with him as well which is almost twice this long like no thank you. It was an okay book, I definitely enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed other classics I've picked up. It kind of reminded me of reading Candide because it had that same sort of satirical tone. Sancho was pretty amusing through out the book and Don Quixote's adherence to his belief that he was a knight was something. Some parts were better than others and I think I did enjoy part one of this a lot more than I enjoyed part two. The digs at whoever wrote the fake second part however through the actually second part written by Cervantes were pretty funny in their pettiness. I just also think the ending was kind of ridiculous where Don Quixote dies on his deathbed and suddenly he's sane and is denouncing chivalry. Felt dumb and unnecessary when the whole point of the book was to make fun of Don Quixote for his silliness in trying to imitate the stories of knights and since everything said there had been mentioned in the book at some point. I feel like I probably lost out on a lot of the word play since I was reading a translated version, though Sancho mixing up words was still included through out. I got pretty bored hearing Don Quixote complaining about Sancho's proverbs endlessly like how many comments on that does one need? Definitely enjoyed part one more for the parts of the story that weren't just related to Don Quixote and a footnote said people disliked the inclusion of things like the short novel but I actually liked them and so I missed it in part two. Just want to take a moment to say contemporary writing is definitely better than any of the classics I've read but I guess it's nice to see where the influence is coming from for all the contemporary books I might enjoy.