“他的纹章是怜悯，他的口号是美”。“梦幻、渴望、瘦削、丢弃在地板上的他那破烂的绿色长袜，现在已经关上的木栅窗，闷热的西班牙的夜晚，而这闷热的夜晚从此以后在三百年的历史长河里，将成为一切语言富有传奇色彩的散文和韵文的源泉，还有五十岁的堂吉诃德，他用一个妄想去战胜另一个妄想——忧郁，苦恼，被小姑娘阿尔蒂西朵拉的低吟的乐声所吸引，并为它所激励。” /“骑士书主线的一节可以用于许多类型小说，比照现实的残酷惨淡，显得理想瑰丽，想到福尔摩斯里阿福说“去冒险吧，华生”，和帷幕中波洛的遗书，good old days.

My ratings of books on Goodreads are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.

Una agradable relectura del quijote. Le bajo puntos porque la mayor parte del libro es un resumen capítulo a capítulo de la novela con pocas intervenciones de Nabokov.

I liked reading Nabokov's critique more than I enjoyed the actual book(s) of Don Quixote! Now cue the songs from the play stuck in my head for the next day.

Se rescatan algunos capítulos, particularmente los relacionados con el Quijote y la crueldad. Me quedo mejor con el análisis de Roberto González Echeverría.

FEE-NOM-IN-ALL book if you are reading "Don Quixote"!!! A "must" read by Quixote fans everywhere. In 1950, Vladimir Nabokov was approached to teach a portion of the new "Literature 2" class established by Harvard University following the Second World War. Literature 1 covered ancient writings like "The Odyssey" and "The Illiad" to name a few and Literature 2 started the new semester with "Don Quixote."

Nabokov was just starting to establish himself in the United States working as a teacher of Russian literature a Cornell University and as a hack reporter with "The New Yorker" when he was approached by the Dean of the English Department to give lectures about "Don Quixote." What followed is a series of eight (8) lectures at the completely filled 600 seat classroom at Memorial Hall on the Harvard University campus. Sadly, no one was able to actually record his lectures and his personal papers were donated following his death.

Two (2) Harvard students -- Fredson Bowers and Guy Davenport -- who(m) were in attendance for the lectures found his personal papers and published this book regarding the master's interpretations of "Don Quixote" and the results are freaking fantastic. If you wonder, "what's all the fuss about 'Don Quixote'? -- then this book is for you to be read in conjunction with "Don Quixote." The last 150 are an incredibly detailed analysis of the 900+ page novel that is "Don Quixote" and are worth it just for the synopsis.

What took Vladimir Nabokov by surprise is how poorly "the Don" is treated by his late 16th and early 17th Century compadras and fellow Spaniards and, to some extent, even by his "loyal" pal Sancho Panza calling Cervantes' novel among the most heartless and demeaning novels ever written. Having read both "Don Quixote" and this book, I agree.

Now, what is so incredibly curious is that following his lectures during the Spring of 1951 at Harvard University, "Vlad" the Scriptor decided to sit down and write a novel about another aging Lothario who is mono-manically focused, like "the Don" on a young girl whose first name starts with the letter "L" and thus, "Lolita" was written into existence and born to the literary world. Many speculate that it was Nabokov's assignment to lecture about "Don Quixote" that led him to write his masterpiece just two (2) years later in 1953 and 1954. Having now read all three (3) books, I likewise agree.

Do yourself and your bad ol' self a favor and read this book -- "Lectures on Don Quixote" -- when you dig out your dusty volume dedicated to "the Don" of La Mancha. You may thank me later. A signed First Edition of "Don Quixote" will be thanks enough. Rock on, me Hearties! 'Tis a grand old reading life INDEED!

Don Quijote Dersleri, Nabokov'un 1951-1952 akademik yılının bahar döneminde konuk olarak geldiği Harvard Üniversitesi'nde Don Quijote üzerine verdiği altı dersten derlenmiş bir çalışma. Nabokov, bir yandan Don Quijote'yi yücelten yazılar yazmış eleştirmenlere cevap verirken öte yandan da modern Don Quijote imajını yıkıyor ve Don Quijote algımızı alt üst ediyor. Edebiyatın hırçın çocuğu Nabokov, romanın yazıldığı dönemin İspanya'sı hakkında tarihi ve sosyal arka plan bilgilerini verdikten sonra romanı didik didik ediyor. Don Quijote ile Sancho Panza'nın başından geçen talihsiz olayları tatlı ve komik olmaktan ziyade "aptalca, gaddarca ve insanlıkdışı" bulduğunu vurgulayan yazar, romana bambaşka bir açıdan bakarak romanı "şimdiye kadar yazılmış en acımasız roman" olarak niteliyor. Romanın acımasız olduğu konusunda Nabokov'a katılıyorum lakin romanın aslında bir rejim, din, şövalyelik, şövalye romansları ve aristokrasi eleştirisi/hicvi olmadığını ileri süren Nabokov'un bu görüşüne katılmıyorum. Romana farklı bir açıdan bakmak için güzel bir referans kitap bu, meraklılarına tavsiye ederim. Elimde Nabokov'un Edebiyat Dersleri adlı kitabı da mevcut. Bu kitapta işlenen romanları her ay bir roman olmak üzere (2018 Ocak ayından itibaren) okuduktan sonra üzerine de cila niyetine Nabokov'un kitabını okumayı planlıyorum. Katılmak isteyenleri bekleriz.

Edith Grossman's translation is wondrous. Having stuck with this tome until the end (that's not meant to be a spoiler), I finally understand why this book is the ultimate classic and considered the invention of the modern novel. And it is just so damn funny! (and sad).

Me parece que Nabokov leyó al Quijote desde el prejuicio, lo cual tampoco es tan terrible como se le quiere achacar. Decía Gadamer que el prejuicio era indispensable para poder entender, con distancia histórica, de manera correcta un texto. Nabokov, desde luego, es un escritor que pone el estilo por encima de todas las cosas; seguramente su dios es Flaubert, el dios del estilo. Esta gente, como Nabokov y Flaubert, cuentan historias que son cotidianas y en realidad no muy maravillosas, pero con un estilo tan exquisito que envuelve.
Por el otro lado, hay novelistas de aventuras en donde estaría, por ejemplo, Don Quijote y El conde de Montecristo: el "qué" es más importante que el "cómo". La historia de Don Quijote es la que nos envuelve, la que nos mantiene al filo de la página. Muchas veces, ahora que lo estoy leyendo, me digo: ¡basta, no leeré más por hoy! Y me paro del sillón y me voy a tomar agua y luego vuelvo y digo, bueno, un capítulo más, esto no puede quedar así. Es un texto que te atrapa por la trama, te quedas para saber qué pasará. En cambio cuando lees el libro de un estilista, dices Basta, no leeré más por hoy y no lees y te vas a ver la TV o a hacerle el amor a tu mujer.
Entiendo que el Quijote no le guste a Navokov, lo que no entiendo es su falta de valor pedagógico. Cuando eres profesor, te pagan por mostrar las obras en su totalidad, con su brillo y su oscuridad, quedando un poco al margen tu opinión personal. Tal vez me llevé un terrible chasco por eso.
Sin embargo, le veo muchas virtudes al libro. Aclara poco de la obra, pero lo poco que aclara se agradece. Finalmente es como un chiste: un ruso dicta una clase en inglés sobre un autor español.

Hace poco leí Pálido Fuego y tal vez le podría decir Ey Nabo, ¿una novela como esa es posible sin la metaliteratura de inagura Cervantes? Comentar desde el coraje de saber que eres deudor de algo que criticas te hace quedar mal parado, más o menos como Virginia Woolf opinando sobre el Ulises de James Joyce.

"No nos engañemos. Cervantes no es un topógrafo. El bamboleante telón de fondo del Quijote es de ficción, y de una ficción, además, bastante deficiente. Con esas ventas absurdas llenas de personajes trasnochados de los libros de cuentos italianos, y esos montes absurdos infestados de poetastros dolientes de amor y disfrazados de pastores de la Arcadia, el cuadro que Cervantes pinta del país viene a ser tan representativo y típico de la España del XVII como Santa Claus es representativo y típico del Polo Norte en el siglo XX. No solo eso, sino que Cervantes parece tener un conocimiento de España tan escaso como el que tenía Gogol de la Rusia central."

A ver, sabemos que la teoría de la literatura viejuna es siempre mala, pero pasar de la página 50 aquí se hace especialmente difícil. La crítica y análisis del Quijote está muy desubicada, como se ve en la cita, en cerca de la mitad de sus párrafos. Le exige ajustarse al relismo y moralismo de la literatura anglo del XIX, y evidentemente no cabe. Un vasito de agua *GULP*.

I'm still slightly obsessed since finishing the Burton Raffel translation of Don Quixote over five months ago. It is just one of those things that I can't stop thinking about. Nabokov systematically tears down everything you ever thought you knew or read about DQ and builds it back anew. A great companion to those who can't get enough of the Don and Sancho.


My favorite quote:

"We should, therefore, imagine Don Quixote and his squire as two little silhouettes ambling in the distance against an ample flaming sunset, and their two huge black shadows, one of them especially elongated, stretching across the open country of centuries and reaching us here."

Ok, boomer