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.

One of the reasons Don Q is a modern novel is because it's constantly wrestling with the question of what's real and what's not, as well how it impacts someone who prefers to believe what is not real. I mean nothing could be more timely, timeless really, as there will always be delusional people who not only believe nonsense, but act dangerously as a result.

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Jorge Luis Borges wrote a brilliant short story about Don Q titled "A Problem"

What would happen, wonders Borges, if due to his belief in these fantasies, Don Quixote attacks and kills a real person? Borges asks a fundamental question about the human condition: what happens when the yarns spun by our narrating self cause grievous harm to ourselves or those around us? There are three main possibilities, says Borges.

One option is that nothing much happens. Don Quixote will not be bothered at all by killing a real man. His delusions are so overpowering that he will not be able to recognise the difference between committing actual murder and dueling with the imaginary windmill giants.

Another option is that once he takes a person’s life, Don Quixote will be so horrified that he will be shaken out of his delusions. This is akin to a young recruit who goes to war believing that it is good to die for one’s country, only to end up completely disillusioned by the realities of warfare.

But there is a third option, much more complex and profound. As long as he fought imaginary giants, Don Quixote was just play-acting. However once he actually kills someone, he will cling to his fantasies for all he is worth, because only they give meaning to his tragic misdeed. Paradoxically, the more sacrifices we make for an imaginary story, the more tenaciously we hold on to it, because we desperately want to give meaning to these sacrifices and to the suffering we have caused.

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Some vintage Cervantes humor.....

Sancho said to his master:

“Señor, I’ve already conveyanced my wife to let me go with your grace wherever you want to take me.”

“Convinced is what you mean, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “not conveyanced.”

“Once or twice,” responded Sancho, “if I remember correctly, I’ve asked your grace not to correct my words if you understand what I mean by them, and when you don’t understand, to say: ‘Sancho, you devil, I don’t understand you,’ and if I can’t explain, then you can correct me; I’m so plaint….”

“I do not understand you, Sancho,” said Don Quixote, “because I do not know what I am so plaint means.”

“So plaint means,” responded Sancho, “That’s just the way I am.”

“Now I understand you even less,” replied Don Quixote.

“Well, if you can’t understand me,” responded Sancho, “I don’t know any other way to say it; that’s all I know, and may God protect me.”

“Oh, now I have it,” responded Don Quixote. “You mean to say that you are so pliant, so docile and softhearted, that you will accept what I tell you and learn what I teach you.”

“I’ll bet,” said Sancho, “you knew what I was saying and understood me from the beginning, but wanted to mix me up so you could hear me make another two hundred mistakes.”

“That may be,” replied Don Quixote. “Tell me, then, what does Teresa say?”

“Teresa says,” said Sancho, “that I should keep a sharp eye on you, and there’s no arguing against written proof, because if you cut the deck you don’t deal, and a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. And I say that a woman’s advice is no jewel, and the man who doesn’t take it is a fool.”

(Part II, pp. 497-498, Grossman translation)

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Famous sayings in Don Quixote.....

I was so free with him as not to mince the matter.
Don Quixote. The Author’s Preface.

They can expect nothing but their labour for their pains.
Don Quixote. The Author’s Preface.

As ill-luck would have it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. ii.

The brave man carves out his fortune, and every man is the son of his own works.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. iv.

Which I have earned with the sweat of my brows.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. iv.

Can we ever have too much of a good thing?
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. vi.

The charging of his enemy was but the work of a moment.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book i. Chap. viii.

And had a face like a blessing.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book ii. Chap. iv.

It is a true saying that a man must eat a peck of salt with his friend before he knows him.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. i.

Fortune leaves always some door open to come at a remedy.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. i.

Fair and softly goes far.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ii.

Plain as the nose on a man’s face.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.

Let me leap out of the frying-pan into the fire;
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.

You are taking the wrong sow by the ear.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.

Bell, book, and candle.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. iv.

Let the worst come to the worst.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. v.

You are come off now with a whole skin.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. v.

Fear is sharp-sighted, and can see things under ground, and much more in the skies.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.

Ill-luck, you know, seldom comes alone.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.

Why do you lead me a wild-goose chase?
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.

I find my familiarity with thee has bred contempt.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.

The more thou stir it, the worse it will be.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.

Now had Aurora displayed her mantle over the blushing skies, and dark night withdrawn her sable veil.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vi.

I tell thee, that is Mambrino’s helmet.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vii.

Give me but that, and let the world rub; there I ’ll stick.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vii.

Sure as a gun.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. vii.

Sing away sorrow, cast away care.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

Thank you for nothing.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

After meat comes mustard; or, like money to a starving man at sea, when there are no victuals to be bought with it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

Of good natural parts and of a liberal education.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

Would puzzle a convocation of casuists to resolve their degrees of consanguinity.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

Let every man mind his own business.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

Murder will out.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

Thou art a cat, and a rat, and a coward.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. viii.

It is the part of a wise man to keep himself to-day for to-morrow, and not to venture all his eggs in one basket.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.

I know what ’s what, and have always taken care of the main chance.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.

The ease of my burdens, the staff of my life.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.

I am almost frighted out of my seven senses.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.

Within a stone’s throw of it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. ix.

Let us make hay while the sun shines.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

I never thrust my nose into other men’s porridge. It is no bread and butter of mine; every man for himself, and God for us all.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

Little said is soonest mended.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

A close mouth catches no flies.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

She may guess what I should perform in the wet, if I do so much in the dry.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

You are a devil at everything, and there is no kind of thing in the ’versal world but what you can turn your hand to.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

It will grieve me so to the heart, that I shall cry my eyes out.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book. iii. Chap. xi.

Delay always breeds danger.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. ii.

They must needs go whom the Devil drives.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.

More knave than fool.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. iv.

I can tell where my own shoe pinches me; and you must not think, sir, to catch old birds with chaff.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. v.

I never saw a more dreadful battle in my born days.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. viii.

Here is the devil-and-all to pay.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.

I begin to smell a rat.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.

I will take my corporal oath on it.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. x.

It is past all controversy that what costs dearest is, and ought to be, most valued.
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap xi.

I would have nobody to control me; I would be absolute: and who but I? Now, he that is absolute can do what he likes; he that can do what he likes can take his pleasure; he that can take his pleasure can be content; and he that can be content has no more
Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. xxiii.

When the head aches, all the members partake of the pain.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. ii.

He has done like Orbaneja, the painter of Ubeda, who, being asked what he painted, answered, “As it may hit;” and when he had scrawled out a misshapen cock, was forced to write underneath, in Gothic letters, “This is a cock.”
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.

There are men that will make you books, and turn them loose into the world, with as much dispatch as they would do a dish of fritters.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.

“There is no book so bad,” said the bachelor, “but something good may be found in it.”
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iii.

Every man is as Heaven made him, and sometimes a great deal worse.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. iv.

Spare your breath to cool your porridge.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. v.

A little in one’s own pocket is better than much in another man’s purse.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. vii.

Remember the old saying, “Faint heart never won fair lady.”
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.

There is a remedy for all things but death, which will be sure to lay us out flat some time or other.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.

Are we to mark this day with a white or a black stone?
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. x.

Let every man look before he leaps.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xiv.

The pen is the tongue of the mind.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xvi.

There were but two families in the world, Have-much and Have-little.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xx.

He has an oar in every man’s boat, and a finger in every pie.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxii.

Patience, and shuffle the cards.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.

Comparisons are odious.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.

Tell me thy company, and I will tell thee what thou art.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiii.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxiv.

He is as like one, as one egg is like another.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxvii.

You can see farther into a millstone than he.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap xxviii.

Sancho Panza by name, is my own self, if I was not changed in my cradle.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxx.

“Sit there, clod-pate!” cried he; “for let me sit wherever I will, that will still be the upper end, and the place of worship to thee.”
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxi.

Building castles in the air,
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxi.

It is good to live and learn.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxii.

He is as mad as a March hare.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

I must follow him through thick and thin.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

There is no love lost between us.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

In the night all cats are gray.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

All is not gold that glisters.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

I can look sharp as well as another, and let me alone to keep the cobwebs out of my eyes.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

Honesty is the best policy.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

Time ripens all things. No man is born wise.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

A good name is better than riches.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

An honest man’s word is as good as his bond.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiii.

Heaven’s help is better than early rising.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxiv.

I have other fish to fry.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxv.

There is a time for some things, and a time for all things; a time for great things, and a time for small things.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxv.

But all in good time.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvi.

Matters will go swimmingly.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvi.

Many go out for wool, and come home shorn themselves.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.

They had best not stir the rice, though it sticks to the pot.
Don Quixote. Part ii. Chap. xxxvii.

Where one door shuts, another opens.

Diligence is the mother of good fortune.

Misery loves company.

The blind man leading the blind man.

Forewarned is forearmed

===============

done quixote!!!
pun quixote!!
fun quixote??
none quixote...

and that's not entirely true; there are some rollicking good times in here, but the first part is so much endlessly episodic violence, and while the second half becomes calmer and more focused, it never got my imagination engaged nor my blood flowing.

in fact, although i know he really does love it, i can't help but feel that brian's recommending this to me is similar to the duke and duchess having their fun with don q. i feel like brian is pulling a prank on me - that he does not want me to meet my reading goal and is laughingly crowing, "no, karen, you will not read 150 books this year!! i am preventing you!!"

i will show you. despite the amount of time i was stalled on this one, i will come right back in the game.

but this, i did not love this. and a lot of it is just context. i can appreciate it as an artifact and as a foundation for western literature, but it suffers from the fate of any work that was not edited professionally.

tastes change over time. just in the same way that marilyn monroe would have probably had to drop fifteen pounds to rock our modern-day underfed runway ideal, so this book could lose a similar amount of text. stop frothing, bri, seriously if this turned up in some slush pile somewhere, there would be allll kinds of criticism, and it might even get passed around the office (lgm) a few times to the giggles of the editorial assistants: "this guy can't even keep the supporting character's wife's name straight!!", "this is inconsistent!!"," "this is repetitive!""what is this interlude that has nothing to do with anything else doing in here??" "this is flat-out stolen from another source!!!"

an editor would go to town on this puppy.

but we have the luxury of reading this 500 years after it was written and marveling at how fresh and modern it still sounds. and part of it is very modern. but grossman's frequent "cervantes probably meant ____here" or "this is the wrong reference" would not play in a modern novel. if jonathan safran foer had done this, there would be a crown of pretentious classics majors drawling, "i can't believe he said "perseus" when he meant "theseus"... " guffaw guffaw.

but 500 years down the road, we can afford to be more forgiving. vanity press authors take heart!

and i am aware i am being nitpicky, i am more just interested in pointing out how a lot of people who love this book would be very indignant to read something produced today that had so many obvious flaws.

but i do admire longevity.

i just couldn't get into it, overall. there are a lot of great moments here: the burning of the books (nooo!), the puppet show, don q. in a cage, and great non-action sequences in the discussions of the value of drama as a medium and the difficulty of translation and many other minor occurrences.

the first half is just episode after episode of this delusional thug with some kind of 'roid-rage, meth-aggression attacking people and innocent lions, unprovoked, and his sidekick who is a grasping fiend who would sell you out for even the promise of a sandwich. and it all reads like marx brothers slapsticky stuff. i mean, how do you break someone's nose with a loaf of bread??

with the second half, it is better and becomes more self-reflexive and much sadder, but a lot of it still remains tedious. the second half, written ten years after the first part, frequently references the unauthorized sequel to don q that some guy wrote and pissed cervantes off. it is like a mean girl passing notes to the cool kids, "did you hear what he said??? that's my man he's messing with!!" etc etc.

and i am not a lazy reader, even though my tastes tend toward a faster pace than this, but i have read plenty of slow-paced, dense prose that didn't make me take out my mental red pen and slash away at what i felt was extraneous or repetitious.

i can appreciate the message about art and its impact and its potential and its place in the world, but i did not have fun reading this book.

and i make no apologies.



and for jasmine - who doesn't think there is anything complicated or pretentious in the spanish language - this qualifies, i think. it gets all meta in the second act. for its time, it was seriously mind-bending stuff.

come to my blog!

I was in the fifth grade, devouring The Hardy Boys and Chip Hilton, on the cusp of adolescence, when a nun put this in my hands. Holding the thickness, I wondered at the malicious minds that devised new tortures for parochial education. But soon, a few chapters in, the world turned for me, colors changed; things and people, I realized, were not what they seemed. So, when I smile softly, or bristle instead, at the passing panoply, the quotidian things in life, it's because long ago someone laid Cervantes on my desk. Yes, there are faces in the clouds but not everyone sees them. When you're next stopped at a light, turn up your car radio, and match the baselines to the variety of walkers, even if they don't know they're dancing.

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.

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.
___________________________
Note: This audiobook version is translated by Edith Grossman and read amazingly well by George Guidall.

Another Epic classic complete! Thank you to my Goodreads Completist Book Club for giving me the inspiration to finally tackle this big book. I am sure I would have eventually read it someday, but it is nice to have some extra motivation.

I did enjoy the Don Quixote experience quite a bit. In general, it was slapstick comedy and tongue-in-cheek humor – but, there were a lot of literary acrobatics, word play, etc. taking place as well to keep me interested, guessing, and thinking as a reader. At times it did get a little bit repetitive, but I guess that it to be expected with such a large book.

The book is in two parts, and I believe when people read it today it is almost always considered one book. But, when I read a bit about the background, I discovered the first part was originally released as its own book with the second following several years later. I did feel like the two were quite different from each other and I did like the first part much better than the second. Most of the dragging and repetition I encountered came during the second part.

Overall, a great experience but it does take a lot of time to make it through. It is 100% worth it if you like the Epic classics!

Oh, and the windmill thing . . . takes up only a page or two. It is interesting that it has come to define this character and story as a whole!

This is my third reread, at the moment it looks like I read it one year, have one year break then pick it u back again. Although I really enjoyed the story again it's not one of my favorite classics anymore. It was interesting reading about Don Quixote and Sancha. It took a long time to read and I wasn't always in the right mind place for it but overall it didn't feel dragging even if it took almost the whole month of February to read.

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I read it the first time back in 2019 and I've always had in my mind since then that this is one of my favorite classic and I was slightly worried when I decided to reread it that my thoughts would have changed. But there was definitely no need to worry. Loved it even more this time around. Such a fun and engaging story and while it has the cozy, slightly dusty feel and charm of a classic it's hard to imagine it's so old. It's a big book but definitely a classic that shouldn't be unread!

(Book 992 from 1001 books) - Don Quixote = Don Quijote de La mancha (Don Quijote de la Mancha #1-2), Miguel de Cervantes

The Ingenious Nobleman Sir Quixote of La Mancha, or just Don Quixote, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, 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.

Don Quixote shows the life of an individual who is delusional and spends his time reading forbidden works.

At the time of telling the story, writing and reading works dealing with knights were forbidden. And the main character of the story considers himself the place of one of these knights, and sees hypothetical enemies in front of him, which are, of course, mountains and trees. Don Quixote is an imaginary hero, helpless and stubborn who considers himself invincible.

عنوانهای چاپ شده در ایران: «دن کیشوت»؛ «دون کیخوته»؛ نویسنده: سر وانتس؛ انتشاراتیها: (روایت، نیل، وستا، روزگار و ...) ادبیات اسپانیا؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش در یکی از روزهای سال 1972میلادی

عنوان: دون کیشوت؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: محمد قاضی؛ تهران، انتشارات نیل، 1349؛ دو جلد جمعا در 1286صفحه؛ یکی از کتابهای مجموعه ی ده رمان بزرگ جهان

عنوان: دون کیشوت؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: ذبیح الله منصوری؛ ...، چاپ دیگر تهران، کتاب وستا، 1389؛ در 564ص؛ شابک 9786009104475؛

عنوان: دون کیخوته (دن کیشوت)؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، روزگار، 1390؛ دو جلد حدود 1300ص؛ شابک دوره 9789643741259؛

این اثر از کهنترین رمانها، در زبان‌های نوین «اروپایی» است؛ بسیاری آن را بهترین کتاب نوشته شده، به زبان «اسپانیایی»، می‌دانند؛ «سروانتس» بخش نخست «دن کیشوت» را، در زندان بنوشتند، و نخستین بار در سال 1605میلادی، در «مادرید» منتشر کردند، و بخش دوم آن، ده سال بعد در سال 1615میلادی، به چاپ رسید؛ «دن کیشوت» زندگی فردی را به خوانشگر نشان می‌دهد، که دچار توهم است، و اوقات خود را با خواندن آثار ممنوعه می‌گذراند؛ در زمان روایت داستان، نوشتن و خواندن آثاری که به شوالیه ها می‌پرداخت، قدغن بود؛ و شخصیت اصلی داستان، خود را جای یکی از همین شوالیه‌ ها میشمارد، و دشمنانی فرضی را، در برابر خویش می‌بیند، که البته کوه‌ها و درخت‌ها هستند؛ «دن کیشوت» پهلوانی خیالی، و بی‌دست‌ و پاست، که خود را شکست‌ ناپذیر می‌پندارد؛ او به سفرهایی طولانی می‌رود، و در میانه ی همین سفرهاست، که اعمالی عجیب و غریب، از وی سر می‌زند؛ وی که هدفی، جز نجات مردمان، از ظلم و استبداد حاکمان ظالم، ندارد، نگاهی تخیلی به اطراف خویش دارد، و همه چیز را، در قالب ابزار جنگی می‌بیند؛ تاکنون هیچ کتابی، به اندازه ی «دن کیشوت»، این‌همه مورد عشق و علاقه ی ملل گوناگون نبوده‌ است؛ بسیاری از کتاب‌ها هستند، که تنها به یک قوم و ملت اختصاص دارند؛ و از حدود مرز یک کشور فراتر نمی‌روند، بسیاری دیگر نیز هستند، که در میان ملل دیگر هم خوانشگر دارند، اما تنها مورد پسند طبقه ی روشنفکر، یا مردمان عادی، یا طبقات ممتاز جامعه هستند؛ اما «دن کیشوت» تمام حصارهای «جغرافیایی»، «نژادی»، «اجتماعی»، و «طبقاتی» را، در هم شکسته، و عنوان خود را با دنیا و بشریت، گره زده است

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 20/06/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 17/05/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

So the reason I read this book I think is actually kind of fun. About 8 years ago I was at a 2nd hand store. See, I like to go to those sometimes to pick up glass flower vases to do etchings on and misc other cheap items that I can be artsy-fartsy with. Anyway, So I am at this 2nd hand store and I see this dark wooden (seemingly) hand-carved character. He is about 10-12 inches tall and he has the look of a Spanish knight of some sort. His stature is tall and lanky, with a big chip in his helmet. He has this pointy beard and a very stoic look on his face. I thought he was just charming and he was only a few dollars so I bought him with no idea of who he was and promptly perched him on my mantle at home. A few years later I had a friend come over and he informed me that my favorite little stoic knight was actually Don Quixote. Of course I had heard of Don Quixote before but I had never read the book so I didn’t know enough about him to make the connection. I have since received a beautiful dark wooden windmill that I have proudly placed behind Quixote. I am still on the lookout for a Sancho Panza wooden squire. I have no idea if my little wooden figure is valuable (nor do I care) or even hand carved but his wonderful, proud, gallant face always brings a smile to mine.

My statue looks very similar to this picture that I found on the web:


Random musing over. Start book review.
I read this one a long time ago but I liked it. It’s a classic, and one of the few that is actually an enjoyable read. Everyone should read this book at least once in their life.

«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.

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.