«En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor»

Su reputación como una simple historia delirante de un loco y su escudero, que creo que sigue siendo la percepción dominante, no comienza a cubrir ni la mitad, porque Cervantes es un bastardo tramposo (con perdón de Cervantes). Crees que lo atrapas (ciertamente lo pensé en el camino) porque parece endemoniadamente simple, pero al final de un párrafo, te ha dirigido en varias direcciones donde de alguna manera se ha perdido el equilibrio. Parodias, ensayos, digresiones tras disgresiones, historias dentro de historias, novelas dentro de novelas; Cervantes metió tantas cosas en este libro que es un milagro que todavía funcione, todo pegado y retenido por el tema más antiguo de la literatura occidental, que las cosas no son lo que parecen ser.

Una de las tantas historias que se encuentra en la novela es la que involucra a una mujer, Marcela, que se entromete en el funeral de un joven noble que murió porque ella no lo amaba. Sus compañeros vuelven a contar su trágica historia, sumando su dolor a la factura de carga que cayó a los pies de la mujer. Ella viene a esencialmente a decir, “¡Basta ya! No es mi culpa. El me eligió; Yo nunca lo elegí. Nunca lo perseguí ni lo guié. No amo a ningún hombre. No murió de celos, murió de estupidez ". El discurso es irrefutable y sorprendentemente fresco. Se necesita un genio satírico para que un personaje se estrelle en un funeral, hable mal de un modelo de nobleza muerta y se muestre comprensivo. El pobre muerto no es un mal tipo, solo un tonto, pero uno que podemos reconocer en nosotros mismos, autovictimizados por una visión egoísta revestida de una ilusión romántica. El punto de la sátira es el daño colateral que sus delirios causan egoístamente, difamando a alguien para defender la pasión y el dolor autoalimentados del joven.

El corazón de "Don Quijote", por supuesto, son las aventuras delirantes del personaje principal, pero como muestra la historia de Marcela, los delirios no se limitan al personaje principal. Don Quijote puede ser un hombre engañado por los libros, o más correctamente por su lectura de libros, pero el sacerdote y muchos otros personajes tienen sus propias ilusiones y Cervantes en esta obra lo deja muy claro. Don Quijote es instigado por su fiel escudero que ve la realidad detrás de la locura. Sabe que un molino de viento es un molino de viento, no un gigante; una posada es una posada y no un castillo. Pero él también tiene una ilusión. Más allá del cariño, Sancho Panza apuesta por la promesa de una isla que gobernar. Su señor puede estar loco, solo un humilde hidalgo. Sancho sabe que su amo es un fraude y bastante loco pero lo sigue de todos modos porque existe esta isla tal vez con su nombre. Su engaño es suyo. Así como el engaño del sacerdote de que puede salvar a otros de la locura de Don Quijote quemando todas las novelas románticas sobre caballeros y damas. También lo es el engaño del duque y la duquesa que creen que su simpatía por Don Quijote es amable, inocente, sin daño, todo en broma. Son gobernantes fraudulentos que gobiernan a un loco.

Lo que realmente admiro de esta obra es cómo se puede leer y disfrutar en varios niveles: el nivel superficial es una comedia satírica que a veces es casi una payasada y parece completamente inofensiva. Debajo de esto hay un mundo resbaladizo de simbolismo que refleja una visión sombría de varias instituciones, entre ellas la Iglesia. Pero las caracterizaciones son memorables, clásicas, por supuesto, y el libro avanza muy bien a pesar de que el tono se vuelve un poco monótono después de un tiempo. No obstante, esperando que me resultara una obra densa y aburrida, me resultó entretenido, divertido, obsceno, inventivo, cómico, irónico, una obra literaria fantástica de pura genialidad.

To compensate for an unliterary childhood (no furtive torch readings of Alice under the duvet until the wee hours for me), I hit the universities to read English Literature, which I failed to study, focusing instead on the local record shop and depression. To compensate for an unliterary literature degree, I ramped up the reading to more sensible levels, and began an ongoing passionate marriage with the written word: a marriage of comfortable convenience spiced up from time to time with trips into mindblowing orgasmic delight. As I leave my twenties, a mostly intolerable decade, survived thanks to all the books on my ‘read’ shelf, I raise a virtual muglet of hemlock to the written word and to Goodreads (which has steadily declined over the years, sadly, and not because of the users), and this masterpiece, the final orgasmic delight of this decade of life, the sort of novel that arrives once in a while and reinforces the most important thing: transcending the shittiness of existence through the soma of language. Cheers, pals!

What a joyful, interesting, funny, educational and rewarding experience reading Don Quixote has been! I read it accompanied by the 24 excellent lectures given by Professor Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, available free on the Yale University website. Had I not simultaneously read the lectures, I would have missed so much of this richly layered text. I certainly wouldn’t have understood the wider political and social themes, or the many literary references, and I would have missed a lot of the humour and irony. I am so pleased to have rounded off my year’s reading with this wonderful journey.

Lectura obligatoria durante la educación secundaria. Me encantó leerlo y estudiarlo.

I guess the goal of reviewing something like Don Quixote is to make you less frightened of it. It's intimidating, right? It's 940 pages long and it's from 500 years ago. But Grossman's translation is modern and easy to read, and the work itself is so much fun that it ends up not being difficult at all.

Much of Book I is concerned with the story of Cardenio, which Shakespeare apparently liked so much that he wrote a now-lost play about the guy. I loved that part, but for me, the pace slowed down a bit in the latter third of Book I. There are two more "novellas" inserted that have little or nothing to do with the plot; feel free to skip them. (They're discussed in the comments section below this review, if you're interested.)

Book II was published ten years after Book I, in 1615, and with it Cervantes pulls a typically Cervantes-esque trick: he imagines that Don Quixote is now a celebrity due to Book I's success. This changes the perspective considerably; whereas folks used to be mystified by Don Quixote, now they often recognize him, which generally results in them fucking with him. It invigorates the story; since Book II feels so different, I didn't get the feeling I often get with wicked long books where I kinda get bogged down around the 2/3 mark. In fact, I ended up liking Book II even better than Book I.

Quixote messes with your head. Cervantes pulls so many tricks out of his bag that you're never sure what's coming next. For a while I suspected that the footnotes had been written by Cervantes as well, and were all made up. I had to Wikipedia Martin de Riquer to make sure he was a real guy. That's how sneaky Cervantes is: he makes you think anything is possible.

I thought Don Quixote was tremendous. It's like nothing else in the world. I'm glad I read it. And I'll end with what might be the best quote of all time, and a brilliant thing to say to your wife:

"I want you to see me naked and performing one or two dozen mad acts, which will take me less than half an hour, because if you have seen them with your own eyes, you can safely swear to any others you might wish to add."

Right? Don Quixote kicks ass.

By the way, for another take on the story, here's Kafka:

Without making any boast of it Sancho Panza succeeded in the course of years, by devouring a great number of romances of chivalry and adventure in the evening and night hours, in so diverting from him his demon, whom he later called Don Quixote, that his demon thereupon set out in perfect freedom on the maddest exploits, which, however, for the lack of a preordained object, which should have been Sancho Panza himself, harmed nobody. A free man, Sancho Panza philosophically followed Don Quixote on his crusades, perhaps out of a sense of responsibility, and had of them a great and edifying entertainment to the end of his days.

(This is the entire text of his parable "The Truth about Sancho Panza"; it and others can be found here.)

The Double-Edged Sword

It is a double-edged sword isn't it, reading great books too early in life?

If we read a book too early in life, we may not grasp it fully but the book becomes part of us and forms a part of our thinking itself, maybe even of our writing. But on the other hand, the reading is never complete and we may never come back to it, in a world too full of books.

And if we wait to read till we are mature, we will never become good readers and writers who can do justice to good books... so we have to read some good books early and do injustice to them. Only then can we do justice to ourselves and to great books later on.

One is reminded of Calvino in Why Read the Classics when we meditate on this.

Now the question is which books to do the injustice to and which the justice. Do we select the best for the earliest so that they become a part of us or do we leave the very best for later so that we can enjoy them to the fullest?

Tough choice. I have never been able to resolve. Have you?

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, may be the beginning of slapstick.

This is regarded as one of the greatest novels of all time, and in a universal group. It is very entertaining, and even at times laugh out loud funny, which is strange considering its age, written around 1600, a contemporary of Shakespeare’s works.

Written in two parts, the second written and published ten years after the first, the second part more serious, and is in a different style. Though perhaps more jocular, the first part is inferior to the second, perhaps Cervantes had matured as a writer and had gotten better.

Still, for a 400-year-old novel, it remains somewhat timeless. A good book.

Ah, I am not yet done with the reading but while I am on early pages of this mammoth book (well, certainly a bit of exaggeration in the style of Don Quixote), I have just reached to this chapter where our world-renowned Knight is wandering in the Sierra Morena (Black Mountains), being one of the rarest Adventures in this authentic history…

So, there is this Perfect timing to have this new amazing adventure posted on the internet, just one day ago, and I cannot help thinking how Don Quixote would have approached it, especially that he was keen to always see behind the real actuality:

https://youtu.be/4tySWLqrYRo

…of course, my reading journey is to continue :D

So, now (I mean today 3rd April) that I have finished reading the stories of Don Quixote I have realized these are my stories too. Ah, not ad-litteram, of course. But my mind is nothing but a Don Quixote. Now I finally know it. Thank God for this book, otherwise I wouldn’t have figured it out.
Fortunately, I watched the cartoons when I was a child and I loved them immensely. Thus, I thought that those stories were written to entertain children. But, ohhh, I was so wrong! Now, at a much later stage in my life, I acknowledge that I am doing the same twenty-four hours a day. That is my slumber. That is my sleep. I seem to be outwardly awake, but inside great dreams are floating around. Now it’s easier to see that I am just covered by layer upon layer of dreams, of the same quality of Don Quixote.
I have enjoyed tremendously reading this book. In a sort of a way, I could say that my mind was in ecstasy. This allowed for the elixir to flow continuously and, strangely, there was no need to speak, I became absolutely silent. I guess I was meditating what would have meant for me to be in the company of a master as Don Quixote. Certainly that would mean to be in the company of seekers, in a place where good and kind people are gathered, where good and noble thoughts are being talked about. Well, to be in such a place, where noble thoughts are discussed and to listen to them, is of immense value. But, but, but understanding them is possible only when you arrive at the same state they are in…
Meanwhile reading this book you can experience the elixir that flows from its words, and you can allow these words to penetrate you, if you be receptive and keep an open mind. For my part, Don Quixote is a great master from whom one can learn how to be ecstatic, and if so, you have learned it all :))

Me encantó. Me divertí muchísimo con este libro. Amé la sencillez, sabiduría y ocurrencias del noble y bonachón Sancho Panza. Don Quijote es como un antihéroe con el que me identifiqué desde las primeras páginas: un hombre convencido y lleno de ideales, dispuesto a salir a luchar por los mismos aunque los reveses de la vida, la crueldad y la gracia de muchas situaciones lo querían mover de ese camino que se había trazado. No nos pasa eso muchas veces?
Me tardé tanto en leer este libro, conocía partes, relatos, anécdotas, las que me contaba mi papá, pero apenas me animé en esta etapa de mi vida en el que este libro me une con el pensamiento y el espíritu a él. Creo que sí fue el momento apropiado porque lo disfruté completamente.
El final me dejó con ese hueco que deja quien parte para un viaje largo y lejano, con un dejo de tristeza al extrañar ya al gran amigo que deja de estar a nuestro lado.
Toda una obra maestra.

CHAPTER XOXO

IN WHICH THE FAMOUS DON QUIXOTE AND HIS SQUIRE SANCHO PANZA TIME-TRAVEL AND DISCOVER THE INTERNET

Now as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza were on their way to Saragossa, they chanced upon a certain madman raving on the road, the said madman wearing a robe of tattered condition repeatedly bellowed shouts of “To kill an infidel is not murder; it is the path to heaven!” Sancho, hearing the madman was not a little amused. But Don Quixote was quite perplexed. He said to Sancho, “By God, the saints take me if what this prophet is saying is not the gospel.” which Sancho replied, “The Lord works in mysterious ways. This madman is providing mirth to weary travellers and rebuke to infidels.” Don Quixote was struck by the irreverence of Sancho’s words and the sacrilegious usage of his proverb. He gave a smack to Sancho’s cheek and said “Thou drolleries are of ill will, thy proverbs are of Satan, may God forgive this sinful servant!” For Don Quixote had fancied the madman to be a person of the cloth and beheld him a clergy spreading the Lord’s good work. Sancho was taken aback. “A thousand cudgelings I have taken but non hurt as much as that smack on my cheek. Thou knowest thy servant is not the most well-mannered squire in the world, but my drolleries and proverbs are what I consider my bread and butter as the proverb states tis better to eat bread than pretend to eat cake. And to think I have taken this smack all for a madman!” Don Quixote was not but a little furious. “Confound thee you rascally clown! Thou stringeth proverbs as a noose around thy neck. I shall be thy hangman if thou wilt not shut thy mouth. For a squire to speak ill will against the Almighty’s messenger is to speak against the Almighty himself. And the squire’s punishment from heaven shall be multiplied tenfold and given to thy master likewise. Thou should learn to put a lid on thy pot as tis better to be safe than sorry.” Sancho was enraged by this for he fancied to himself that if he had a taste for proverbs, then his master had an appetite for them. Now as the knight-errant and squire were arguing astride Rocinante and Dapple, the two had been arguing for quite some time that they didn’t notice that they had long passed the madman, they were stirred by a red light that blinded them both and were deafened by a loud noise that sounded much like a million cannons firing off at the same time. Sancho was scared out of his wits and immediately fell off of Dapple and hid behind a large boulder praying to the virgin and to all the saints, rosary in hand. Don Quixote however, being the valiant knight-errant, was delighted by such a spectacle and filled his head with thoughts of an adventure of grand proportions. When the smoke cleared, they chanced upon one of the rarest sights of this adventure. The author Cide Hamete likens the sight to that of the Archangel Gibreel’s fiery chariot, proclaiming not for another thousand years shall a spectacle be ever seen again. For what greeted Don Quixote and cowardly Sancho was a metal contraption that had four wheels, much like a cart, but no mule or oxen in front. Inside a hollow space covered in front by glass was a man in a queer-fashioned attire. The queer man came out of the contraption, approached Don Quixote and said “What year is it?” Don Quixote struck by the lack of respect of the queer man replied “Give me your name cart-master, and I shall give you mine.” The queer man replied “The name’s Marty McFly, how are ya doin sir?” “I am the Knight of Lions formerly the Knight of the Rueful Countenance, no other than the renowned Don Quixote of La Mancha, I am riding my horse and should like to inquire as to the nature of that marvelous contraption.” Said Don Quixote delighted that he had been recognized a knight due to the “sir” addressed to him. “Oh, that? That’s a car but it’s also a time-machine, used to get back to the future and whatnot…” But before the queer man could finish his speech, he was cudgeled in the back of his head by Sancho Panza. “Ahhh the devil, go back to the hell were thou hast come from!!” Don Quixote was surprised by everything that happened that he was immobile and stared at the prostate man for quite some time. After he recovered his senses he declared “By God, Sancho! I think you’ve killed him. He was no devil, you dimwit! Granted, he was no Christian either by his attire, so I should think it not a sin to kill him. But I would have fancied learning more about him and his contraption.” “Aye, said Sancho, as the messenger speechified ‘to kill an infidel is not murder, tis the path to heaven.’ I should fancy that heaven has rejoiced for my actions, and it bears me great relief that that if I fail to become a governor or a bishop in this life, I could become a saint in the everlasting realm for killing a devil or infidel or beast-child.” “Thou hast spoken truly, Sancho” said Don Quixote. But he was so charmed by the weird contraption that he unmounted Rocinante and went inside it. Sancho was moved by fear for his master and entered the contraption with him in order to plead that they burn it and ask forgiveness from the virgin for being so un-catholic. Don Quixote however would do no such thing and was delighted by the panels and colorful buttons on the dashboard. Being a knight-errant has its perks and one of them being fearless curiosity; he pressed the buttons and hit the gas. Before Sancho could say ten hail-marys, they were speeding on the road and the contraption making all sorts of sounds. “Look at it go, Sancho! Tis faster than Rocinante and Dapple combined!” said Don Quixote full of mirth. Then everything seemed to fade and they were blinded and deafened and out of sync. In a moment, they recovered from being disoriented and were given such a surprise as to what they saw. In front of them was glorious medieval battle being fought. Don Quixote’s heart was stirred and he came out of the car and joined the fighting whacking and delivering cudgels to all who came upon his path. He was heard uttering cries of “For the lady Dulcinea del Toboso the peerless!” Sancho, though, was paralyzed by the sight and remained praying hail-marys inside the car. Meanwhile, Don Quixote encountered a valiant opponent. A great man with long hair and blue paint on his face, the man was attired in a weird skirt and shouting “For Scotland! For Scotland!” He slashed everyone who opposed him and they fell. Before long, as great men tend to be drawn and aware of greatness, the two opponents squared together. The Scotland man gave a slash with his broadsword and Don Quixote parried, he gave a slash of his own and cut a shallow wound on the man’s elbow. The man shouted “What the fuck man, are you trying to kill me?!!” “Isn’t that the whole idea of war, villain!” replied Don Quixote. He gave another blow and hit the man in the head and the man fell. Everybody stopped moving. One of the soldiers bent down, checked then said “Dude, you just killed Mel Gibson.” Don Quixote was elated. He didn’t know who the person was. But if everybody stopped fighting then he must have been a knight of great reputation. He shouted, “Let it be known that this day the great Don Quixote of La Mancha, Knight of Lions formerly Knight of the Rueful Countenance, conquered Sir Mel Gibson of Scotland. I command you all to pay your respects to the Lady Dulcinea del Toboso and recount to her this great story of valor and conquest under the oath of knight-errantry. You are all compelled to do this under the pain of evoking heaven’s wrath. That is all.” But instead of admiration, which he was expecting. The faces of the men were filled with anger and they gave him smacks and cudgels and his state was such a sorry one that he would have gone to his Maker, had not Sancho intervened, hauled him into the car and started the contraption to escape the angry mob. It was just then, when they were speeding away that Sancho noticed the weird boxes with lenses that surrounded the scene and the chairs and tables filled with victuals that were spread out. He cursed himself for missing out on the victuals and uttered a cry of despair for forgetting his trusty Dapple when he read a big sign saying “The Set of Brave Heart 1998” He gave a shake of his head for he didn’t know what it meant and pressed the red button. Then it happened again. Everything seemed to fade and they were blinded and deafened and out of sync, then they crashed. Don Quixote and Sancho found themselves in a weird room. It was quite dark, they considered it might be night-time. When they could see more clearly, they were astounded by the things around them. Sancho exclaimed, “Tis might be hell we have stumbled upon, my master. Ohhh, that my wife and children are left bereaved and wanting. God bless them, God forgive me.” “Shut thy trap, Sancho!”, remarked Don Quixote “tis not hell yet, see the person in the corner scared such that his mother might have considered him a braying pig. There are no cowardly clowns in hell, which is a place filled with demons, left-handed sinners, and moors.” “Thou art quite right my master.” Sancho now being quite reassured, ventured towards the beautiful man fairly scared in the corner. “What are thou called, stranger?” The man replied, “Dude, why did you crash your car into my room? This is fucking weird, my room’s on the second floor.” Don Quixote took over and said, “Speak up my good man, for if thy handsome countenance is any indication of thy person, I should assume thee to be intelligent and fair. Do not fret, for I shall ask Sancho here to make reparations for the unwanted destruction of property we have caused you. What art thou called?” The beautiful man responded, “You can call me JR.. JR Bacdayan” “Well, Sir JR Bacdayan of the handsome countenance, what is that gleaming contraption there on your right side?” Don Quixote was pointing at a laptop and was staring at it quite fondly. It was showing a video of a cat playing the piano. Don Quixote and Sancho were both intrigued and delighted. “My good man, is this the container of your talented cat? I have never seen a species of the feline family with such gifted acumen for music.” JR was laughing now, “Oh, that’s just the internet; it’s filled with information and stuff.” JR felt downright ecstatic, having caught a scent as to the two men’s identities. He thought to himself that he must be in a dream or something better. He asked them, “Want to see something neat?” By which Sancho replied, “I like clean things, my good man. Let us see if thou can clean better than I, for it is said that cleanliness is next to godliness.” Don Quixote gave a nod of agreement and JR was not but a little amused. So JR went to the laptop and clicked another browser tab. It displayed an awesome website and there was an unfinished writing in a language neither Don Quixote nor Sancho Panza could understand. Don Quixote inquired, “My friend, can thou relate to us what this texts mean?” JR grinned and said it was a book review of a novel he just read. He cleared his throat and read aloud, “Don Quixote is essentially a satirical novel about knight-errantry but it also encompasses the medieval life and remains a relevant totem of nobility and gracefulness in our times. It’s a lasting testament left by our forefathers on how to properly conduct ourselves in this mad world we live in.” Both Don Quixote and Sancho exchanged astounded looks. They were confused. But suddenly, a smile crept upon their lips, and slowly, steadily, the three of them started laughing. Their loud laughter was heard throughout the night.

Introduction
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Chronology
A Note on the Text

--The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha

Notes

I “audio-read” this book for about two months on my one hour daily commutes to work. It made the journeys very pleasant and I barely notice the dull sceneries as they go by. The journey of Don Quixote and his trusty squire Sancho Panza is much more vivid and enjoyable.

I had my doubts about the basic premise of this book. A crazy old guy with a Buzz Lightyear-like delusion travels through Spain with a peasant sidekick. How did the author manage to fill a thousand or so pages with that? Would the joke not have worn thin to the point of implosion by the end of the book? Ironically these doubts attract me toward the book rather than repel me. Not being a cat I quite like indulging my curiosity.



The book got off to a rocky start for me with a bunch of sonnets in the first chapter which nearly unmanned me and send me running, but once I am done with them it was pretty much plain sailing all the way. A two months voyage if you will. While reading the first five or so chapters, I did get the feeling that the story is rather repetitious, basically just one misadventure after another. Don Q traveling across the land, making a public nuisance of himself, and Sancho going along in the hope of financial gains. However, as I read on these characters do come alive and begin to seem like old friends, to the extent that I was quite happy just to tag along and see what nonsense they get up to. The basic routine seems to be that the duo travel along with no set destination, come across some people minding their own business, and half the time mistaking them for enemies, giants or wizards, start messing with them and consequently get their asses kicked. I expected to be tired of such shenanigan well before the end of the book but the author seems well aware of this possibility and switches gear with the narrative as the story progress. Most chapters tend to be episodic with several “side stories” interspersed into the main adventure of our heroes. There is even a fairly lengthy novella entitled: “The Man Who Was Recklessly Curious” which is kind of silly yet thought provoking. Various colorful characters enter and leave the novel providing needed variation from just Don Q and his antics.

Don Quixote mistaking a windmill for a Japanese mecha. Art by Realityendshere

The novel’s greatest strength for me is the character development. Don Quixote is not like any lunatic I have ever seen or heard about. While his insanity is relentless it also seems to be oddly systematic or deliberate. He can speak eloquently and sensibly about all kinds of things until he or somebody else shoehorns in the subject of knight errantry then his dementia comes into full display. Sancho Panza, the Robin to his Batty Man, is no less anomalous. His IQ seems to fluctuate with no discernible pattern, plus he is a proverbs machine, with none of the proverbs ever suited to the occasion.

This novel is divided into two parts and I find “Part II” (originally published ten years after Part I) even funnier and more entertaining than Part I. In this second volume Don Quixote and Sancho have become legends in their own lunchtime as “Volume I” is published and become something of a best-seller. Consequently, many of the new characters that are introduced in this part of the book know immediately who they are and often help to facilitate their madness just for kicks. Much hilarity ensues.

Toward the end, I did feel that the book is rather overwritten and I imagined that the job of abridging this book probably is not all that hard as it seems fairly obvious which chapters could easy be jettisoned. However, once I arrived at the poignant final chapter felt a feeling of regret that I have to leave these two crazy buggers now. Looks like a reread in printed format is in order. Maybe I will read it in the Batcave.
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Note: This audiobook version is translated by Edith Grossman and read amazingly well by George Guidall.