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Don Quixote

(Don Quijote de la Mancha #1-2)

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,

Roberto González Echevarría (Introduction)

John Rutherford (Translator, Introduction)

Ernani Ssó (translator)

3.86 · Rating details · 176,099 ratings · 6,366 reviews

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances, that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray – he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants – Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. ...more

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Paperback, 1023 pages

Published February 25th 2003 by Penguin Classics (first published January 16th 1605)

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Oct 26, 2013 Bill Kerwin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I first finished Part I of Don Quixote fifty years ago, and, although I never got around to reading Part II, over the years I managed to convince myself that I had. I suspect this may be true of many other readers as well, for when people share their favorite parts of the story, they invariably mention the battles with windmills and wine skins, the inn courtyard vigil and the blanket toss, but hardly ever bring up Don Quixote's vision in the dark cavern, the manipulations of the Duke and Duchess
I first finished Part I of Don Quixote fifty years ago, and, although I never got around to reading Part II, over the years I managed to convince myself that I had. I suspect this may be true of many other readers as well, for when people share their favorite parts of the story, they invariably mention the battles with windmills and wine skins, the inn courtyard vigil and the blanket toss, but hardly ever bring up Don Quixote's vision in the dark cavern, the manipulations of the Duke and Duchess, the wise decisions of Governor Sancho, or his master's fateful final battle with The Knight of the White Moon. Yet it is here, in the second part, that the world of “Quixote”—inspiring in its romance, sharp in its realism, magnificent in its variety—becomes surprisingly post-modernist and uniquely profound.

From the first, Quixote is complex and subtle. It is never a crude contrast between a crack-brained pretender to knighthood and his slow-witted “squire”: Quixote is only crazy on the subject of knight errantry, and Sancho, although naïve and illiterate, is a shrewd man filled with proverbial wisdom (albeit often inaptly applied). In spite of misfortune, they are never mere comedians slipping on the banana peel of existence; every slapstick trouncing they receive offers them yet another opportunity for reflection (often while literally on their backs, smarting from their recent wounds), and it is these discussions, filled with plausible arguments and vast logical gaps, that generate much of the rich humor of the book. Like Didi and Gogo, they are existential clowns, striving to understand a baffling world at least as foolish as themselves.

Reckless passion and a kind of rough chivalry pervade the novel's world of folly. The shepherds and goatherds may eat their simple meals around a crude campfire, yet they understand—and admire—pastoral poetry and the noble act of pining away for love. Each wandering wayfarer in the Quixote landscape seem eager to relate some lengthy tale of Romantic obsession and adventure. All this makes our Knight of the Woeful Countenance seem more like a variation than an exception, his devotion to exemplary deeds and his Dulcinea not so much a social aberration as a dedication to one bizarre strain of a still flourishing tradition.

It is in the second part, however, that “Quixote” succeeds in surprising the reader. Cervantes published this sequel almost ten years later, spurred to do so by his outrage at the printing of an unauthorized continuation by an Aragonese called “Avellanada.” In Cervantes sequel, the knight and his squire soon learn that almost everyone they encounter on the road is familiar with their history, having read not only Cervantes but Avellanada as well. (Not surprisingly, the Don and Sancho condemn Avellanada as spurious nonsense.) These “readers,” upon encountering our heroes, freely share with them their own interpretations of the pair's adventures, and some of them—notably the Duke and Duchess—actively participate in the narrative by constructing elaborate pranks, the basis of even more marvelous deeds to come. These two things cause a contradictory movement in our characters' consciousness: they become at once more self-reflective and more deeply committed to their fantasies. By the novel's end, these reflections on the nature of the self and the nature of narrative have caused Sancho to become wiser and allowed the old Don to face his death clear-eyed, without his chivalric illusions.

Something happens here which is almost astonishing: in “Quixote” we can sense the novel--not only this particular novel, but the novel considered as a form--becoming aware of itself. Cervantes' casual foray into meta-fiction—which may have started with his human impulse to ridicule the Aragonese thief who hijacked his narrative—becomes an endless quest for an Eldorado rich and strange. The novel seems to mature and become self reflective, newly aware of how consciousness constructs narrative, how narrative may in turn alter consciousness, and how such alterations may further refine the nature of narrative itself.

The vast treasures of the quest now lie before us: the works of Fielding, Sterne, Dostoevsky, Proust, Joyce, Nabokov, and many others. Yes, what happens here is astonishing: in “Quixote” we overhear the soul of Western fiction at the moment it begins to talk to itself. ...more

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Jun 24, 2014 Lisa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, so-good-it-hurts, unforgettable

“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 i ...more

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Mar 10, 2014 Renato Magalhães Rocha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: the-novel-100, 100-best-books-world-library, kindle-ebooks, all-stars, 2014, reviewed, 1001, absolute-favorites, read-more-than-once

A book of parallels, Don Quixote by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, through two of the most emblematic characters ever conceived, discusses what's imagined and what's seen, the ideal vs. the real, the conflicts between illusion and actuality and how these solid lines start to blur by the influences Don Quixote and Sancho Panza inflict on each other through the course of this comic (yet sad sometimes...) tale.

A second-hand account translated from Arab historian Cide Hamete Benengeli ...more

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Jun 23, 2018 Nayra.Hassan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

يا عشاق القراءة..ها هي نهاية كل منا..فارس بلا قضية..بطل بلا بطولة. عاشق بلا حبيبة..
بصراحة بدأت في قراءتها مرغمة..من يود قراءة كلاسيكيات القرن 17..؟

و لكن سرعان ما جذبني كيخانا الطيب الشغوف بقراءة قصص الفرسان..فيحول نفسه لفارس احمق
ويسافر خلف هدف وهمي..
من اجمل ما تم كتابته عن الحماقة عندما تتملك من الإنسان..قد تكون راكضا خلف مثاليات...أهدافك نبيلة..
و لكن ماذا عن وسائلك؟

لم يترك سرفانتس طبقة او طائفة في اسبانيا الا وانتقدها ..لاقى فارسنا مهانة متكررة في خروجه. .او رحلته لاصلاح المايل !!ا
ليعود منكسرا ...more

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Mar 30, 2017 Fernando rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

“¡Cambiar el mundo, amigo Sancho, que no es locura ni utopía, sino Justicia!"

Antes de comenzar a escribir mi reseña de este libro maravilloso, debo pedirle mis sentidas disculpas a don Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, puesto que considero una falta de respeto el no haber leído su Don Quijote de la Mancha mucho tiempo antes de todos los que leí y revisioné mucho después, especialmente y teniendo en cuenta de que me considero un lector de clásicos.
Entonces, ¿por qué no empezar por el clásico más imp ...more

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Feb 19, 2018 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: own

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 ❤ ...more

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Mar 13, 2016 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: review-may-contain-comic-content, metamorphosis, translated-from-spanish, don-quixote-related, treasured-reading-experience

Can I tell you a story - only it may take a little time because sometimes a thousand trifles have to be recounted, as irrelevant as they are necessary, for the true understanding of a tale.

Chapter I : Regarding what befell the narrator on visiting a theatre

The comic operetta Don Quixote was being performed at my local theatre and I was amongst the audience at the first performance. It was a lively and entertaining re-enactment featuring the knight errant Don Quixote and his erring squire Sancho ...more

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Jan 25, 2011 karen rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: littry-fiction, meowch-bad-kitty, not-a-polyglot

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 ...more

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Dec 24, 2012 Jason rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: for-kindle, groupthink, 2014, reviewed, thrill-me-chill-me-fulfill-me

When I read excerpts of Don Quixote in high school, which I think must be a requisite for any Spanish language class taken by anybody ever, I was astounded that something so seemingly banal could be as wildly popular and possess such longevity as this book is and does. At the time, I did not find Don Quixote to be anything more than a bumbling fool chasing imaginary villains and falling into easily avoidable situations, and the forced hilarity that would ensue seemed to be of the same kind I rec When I read excerpts of Don Quixote in high school, which I think must be a requisite for any Spanish language class taken by anybody ever, I was astounded that something so seemingly banal could be as wildly popular and possess such longevity as this book is and does. At the time, I did not find Don Quixote to be anything more than a bumbling fool chasing imaginary villains and falling into easily avoidable situations, and the forced hilarity that would ensue seemed to be of the same kind I recognized in farcical skits performed by eegits like The Three Stooges.

But I suspected there was something more to Don Quixote than what my 14 year-old impressions were telling me, and I’m glad I finally read this book in its entirety. Having done so, I’ve discovered that Don Quixote is not a bumbling idiot—far from it, in fact. He is highly intelligent, highly perceptive and observant, and most surprisingly, and in spite of his delusions of being a knight errant, he is actually also highly self-aware. The combination of these traits makes him one of the most interesting characters in literature, and if it weren’t for his fallibility in misinterpreting reality (to put it nicely), the brilliance of Don Quixote would be elevated to unapproachable levels.

Putting the characters aside, though, I have to say that the storytelling here is simply superb. When reading an English translation, I never know whether credit for this ought to be awarded to the author or to the translator (or to both!), but nonetheless this is the kind of writing that just pulls a reader along effortlessly. Each episodic adventure rolls seamlessly into the next and even while the subject of many of these adventures covers similar ground—a maiden who has been dishonored by her man is one such theme, for example—it never seems recycled.

Don Quixote is actually comprised of two volumes written about a decade apart. Historically speaking, there was an erroneous book published in between Cervantes’s own two works under the pretense of being the “real” volume two of the tale of Don Quixote, but was attributed to an unidentified author with the pseudonym Avellaneda. It is likely that this fake version lit a match under Cervantes, and what I love about this little piece of history is that when Cervantes actually completes his authentic second volume, it is riddled with allusions to Avellaneda’s deceptive book, and these allusions become so ingrained in the text that it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction. At one point Don Quixote meets someone who claims to know him, but as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that the claimant has actually met Avellaneda’s Don Quixote, and the real Don Quixote is horrified that someone should have the audacity, not just to impersonate him, but to do such a horrible job impersonating him, that he goes to great lengths (and yes, we’re talking about the character here) to prove to anyone and everyone that he is the real Don Quixote. He even changes his itinerary to avoid a city that the fake Don Quixote purportedly goes to, just to make it clear that Avellaneda is a lying whore and cannot be trusted. Metafictional stuff like that can be pretty entertaining in its own right, but the fact that it was implemented in a book written over four hundred years ago just makes it all the more mind blowing, or at least it does to me.

All in all, I had a hard time letting go of DQ when I finished this book. It turns out I really fell for the guy. ...more

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May 30, 2008 Cecily rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, humour, favourites

Whatever else Don Quixote may be, I never found it boring. Parts of it were very funny, others had wonderful similarities with Shakespeare, some bits were more serious: it's like a mini library in a single volume. Wonderful.

Overall, it has quite a Shakespearean feel - more in the plotting and tales within tales (eg The Man Who was Recklessly Curious, stolen by Mozart for Cosi fan Tutte) than the language. In fact, the story of Cardenio is thought to be the basis for Shakespeare's lost play of t ...more

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Aug 25, 2010 Alex rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, reading-through-history, metafiction, top-100, rth-lifetime, too-many-books, 2018-written-world

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 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.) ...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Riku Sayuj rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, translated, classics

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. ...more

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Jul 16, 2016 Michael Finocchiaro rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, spanish-classic, favorites

Cervantes, Don Quixote. "In a certain corner of la Mancha, the name of which I do not choose to remember, there lately lived one of those country gentleman, who adorn their halls with rusty lace and worm-eaten target, and ride forth on the skeleton of a horse, to course with a sort of a starved greyhound."

Don Quixote is one my favorite comedies of all time. This opening phrase is steeped with irony and sarcasm. We are introduced to the loser town which the author is obviously embarrased to have ...more

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May 14, 2008 Ahmad Sharabiani rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-book, classic, literature, fiction, 17th-century, spanish

992. 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 hig 992. 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.
عنوانها: دن کیشوت؛ دون کیخوته؛ نویسنده: سر وانتس؛ انتشاراتیها: (روایت، نیل، وستا، روزگار، ) ادبیات اسپانیا؛ تاریخ نخستین خوانش: سال 1972 میلادی
عنوان: دون کیشوت؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: محمد قاضی؛ تهران، انتشارات نیل، 1349 ؛ دو جلد جمعا در 1286 صفحه؛ 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 564 ص؛ شابک: 9786009104475؛
عنوان: دون کیخوته (دن کیشوت)؛ نویسنده: سروانتس؛ مترجم: کیومرث پارسای؛ تهران، روزگار، 1390 ؛ دو جلد حدود 1300 ص؛ شابک دوره: 9789643741259؛
این اثر از کهنترین رمانها در زبان‌های نوین اروپایی ست. بسیاری آن را بهترین کتاب نوشته شده به زبان اسپانیایی می‌دانند. سروانتس بخش نخست دن کیشوت را در زندان نوشتند و نخستین بار در سال 1605 میلادی در مادرید منتشر کردند، و بخش دوم آن ده سال بعد در سال 1615 میلادی 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، ممنوع بود؛ و شخصیت اصلی داستان، خود را جای یکی از همین شوالیه‌ ها میشمارد و دشمنانی فرضی را در برابر خویش می‌بیند، که االبته 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 خواننده دارند، اما تنها مورد پسند طبقه ی روشنفکر یا مردمان عادی، یا طبقات ممتاز 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 ا. شربیانی ...more

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Aug 14, 2018 Manuel Antão rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1995

If you're into stuff like this, you can read the full review.

Addled Knight Goes Looking for Trouble and Finds It: "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes

“El que lee mucho y anda mucho, ve mucho y sabe mucho.”

In "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes

Don Quixote is one of my favourite novels, exasperating though it is at times with all those stories within stories, knockabout humour and cruel practical jokes. Simply because it’s so complex, we both admire and laugh at Don Quixote. When he speaks we are ...more

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Nov 04, 2016 MJ Nicholls rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, penguin-classics, pre-1900s, southern-europe, worshipped, nonreviews, voluminous, picaresque

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 in ...more

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Jul 14, 2018 بسمة الجارحي rated it liked it · review of another edition

ربما تكون شخصية دون كيشوت أكثر شخصية هزلية في الأدب العالمي، ومضرب الأمثال في الشخصية التي تجمع بين الحماقة والنبل
دون كيشوت الذي حارب طواحين الهواء بعد أن ظن عبثاً أنها وحش خرافي، بورجوازي متوسط الحال لديه ولع غريب يصل لحد الهوس بقراءة مغامرات وقصص الفرسان والتي قادته في النهاية إلى محاولة أن يكون واحدا منهم رغم اختلافات الزمان والمكان
دون كيشوت بكل قيمه المثالية يصطدم بواقع أبعد ما يكون عن المثالية لتكون النتيجة مغامرات مضحكة ومأساوية في نفس الوقت تعبر عن نماذج بشرية حقيقية لم نعد نقابلها كثيراً ...more

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Sep 27, 2013 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, favorites, fave-classics

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 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.

...more

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Jan 27, 2008 Belarius rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: The Literati And Pseudoliterati

Shelves: fiction-finished, literature

I'll be the first to admit it: I'm a fan of popular fiction. I desire enjoyment from certain factors of pacing and style that the literary elite consider "common" and I, in turn, generally find "literature" to be incredibly pretentious. This has led me to hold what some might consider "uncultured" opinions about various great works.

Which brings us to Don Quixote, which many in the literary elite consider to be the greatest novel ever written.

Did I love Don Quixote? I wouldn't go that far. Does i I'll be the first to admit it: I'm a fan of popular fiction. I desire enjoyment from certain factors of pacing and style that the literary elite consider "common" and I, in turn, generally find "literature" to be incredibly pretentious. This has led me to hold what some might consider "uncultured" opinions about various great works.

Which brings us to Don Quixote, which many in the literary elite consider to be the greatest novel ever written.

Did I love Don Quixote? I wouldn't go that far. Does it deserve to be called the greatest novel ever written? I'm willing to put it on the short list.

Here's the thing: Cervantes published Don Quixote in the early 17th century, while Shakespeare was still working through his "tragic" phase (Hamlet & whatnot). By rights, it should be like so much other "classic literature:" dense, slow, utterly irrelevant to modern life, and soporific. Instead, it's dense, slow, engaging, and surprisingly relevant. Cervantes manages, almost continuously, to be clever in ways that transcend the 400-year gap and resonate with us now. There's no question that adapting to the writing style of that era is a challenge, and Don Quixote will be slow going to readers accustomed to modern pop fiction. But most intelligent readers will consider this a price worth paying.

Why Don Quixote still works stems largely from its having taken the formulas of "heroic knighthood" (which we are still vaguely familiar with as legend today) and showing it to be cartoonish and absurd. Despite the cultural gap, modern readers will still get the gist of the parody, even if they haven't read the chivalric literature that it is an explicit parody of.

The other reason the story works is because, strangely, we find ourselves continuously at odds with the author over the character of Don Quixote himself. We are told, at every turn, that Quixote is a fool, a madman, and a sinner. Cervantes breaks from the traditional role of a passive narrator to make constant judgment on Quixote's failures and flaws. And because we see Quixote so maligned by both his own author and everyone in the book, we as the reader fall in love with him. By writing a book about a dreamer with unassailable ideals but using the narrative voice of a vitriolic cynic, Cervantes forces us to stand up for the nobility and purity that Quixote achieves. Cervantes has, in effect, martyred his own protagonist in such a dramatic way that it falls to the reader to elevate Quixote to the status of saint.

And any book that can pull that off is worth the difficult prose. ...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Nicholas Sparks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nicholas-recommends

The best novel of all time.

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Jan 07, 2012 James rated it really liked it

Shelves: 1-fiction, 4-written-pre-20th-century

Book Review
4 out of 5 stars to Don Quixote, written around 1605 by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. A few interesting facts: (1) The book was originally written in Spanish, (2) I read an English translation as when I attempted to read the Spanish, between the changes in language over 400 years and my own limitations of the language at the time I read it, (3) this is considered one of the first "modern" novels and (4) all the great writers in the 19th century looked to this novel and author as t ...more

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Sep 07, 2018 Roy Lotz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hispanophilia, no-hablo-inglés, eurotrip, highly-recommended-favorites, novels-novellas-short-stories

“I know who I am,” replied don Quijote, “and I know who I can be...”

I bought this book under the sway of a caprice which, if it were not too hackneyed to say so, I would call quixotic. This was two years ago. I was in the royal palace in La Granja de San Ildefonso, near Segovia. I had just toured the palace—one of the finest in Spain—and was about to explore the French gardens, modeled after those in Versailles, when I encountered the gift shop. Normally I do not buy anything in gift shops, si ...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Lyn rated it liked it · review of another edition

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, t ...more

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Oct 06, 2018 Coffee&Quasars rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

6/5.

This is quite simply the greatest thing I’ve ever read.

RTC

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Jul 07, 2011 Tony rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: spanish

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 C ...more

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Jan 26, 2016 Hussam H. Aql rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 ال ...more

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May 25, 2018 FotisK rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Υπάρχουν βιβλία στα οποία γίνεται συχνότατα αναφορά, αλλά εξίσου συχνά δεν έχουν διαβαστεί από το ευρύ κοινό και των οποίων η αξία είναι αναμφίλεκτη. Ο "Δον Κιχώτης" είναι σίγουρα το πλέον αναγνωρίσιμο από αυτά. Ο τίτλος του "1ου σύγχρονου μυθιστορήματος" προσδίδει ιδιαίτερη αξία σε ένα κείμενο που χρονολογείται τα σωτήρια έτη 1605-1615.
Η πλοκή και οι ήρωες είναι ως επί το πλείστον γνωστά, οπότε δεν έχει νόημα να αναφερθώ σε αυτά. Θα σταθώ σε κάποια μόνο σημεία, εν τάχει, τα οποία με ενθουσίασα Υπάρχουν βιβλία στα οποία γίνεται συχνότατα αναφορά, αλλά εξίσου συχνά δεν έχουν διαβαστεί από το ευρύ κοινό και των οποίων η αξία είναι αναμφίλεκτη. Ο "Δον Κιχώτης" είναι σίγουρα το πλέον αναγνωρίσιμο από αυτά. Ο τίτλος του "1ου σύγχρονου μυθιστορήματος" προσδίδει ιδιαίτερη αξία σε ένα κείμενο που χρονολογείται τα σωτήρια έτη 1605-1615.
Η πλοκή και οι ήρωες είναι ως επί το πλείστον γνωστά, οπότε δεν έχει νόημα να αναφερθώ σε αυτά. Θα σταθώ σε κάποια μόνο σημεία, εν τάχει, τα οποία με ενθουσίασαν:
Εν αρχή, η μεταφορά σε πεζό λόγο του έμμετρου έπους με σκοπό την αποδόμησή του. Εν προκειμένω, η χιουμοριστική αποκαθήλωση ενός ολόκληρου είδους (ιπποτικό μυθιστόρημα) μέσω της κριτικής ματιάς στο ηρωικό και στο ένδοξο, όπως μπορεί ταυτόχρονα να ιδωθεί ως ιλαρό και τραγικό, "σκιάζοντας" με γκρίζους τόνους τη μέχρι τότε -μα και μετέπειτα- μανιχαϊστική οπτική.
Ακόμα, η χρονική αποστασιοποίηση, απαράμιλλη για την εποχή εκείνη (αλλά και όποια εποχή τελικά), η οποία τοποθετεί έναν καθρέφτη μπροστά στο οικείο, μετατρέποντάς το σε κάτι ανοίκειο και τούμπαλιν, υποχρεώνοντας τον εν γρηγόρση αναγνώστη να σταθεί με αυτοκριτική διάθεση απέναντι στα ειωθότα, θεώμενος εξ αποστάσεως τα δρώμενα.
Και βέβαια, τεχνικές όπως η συμπερίληψη άλλων βιβλίων εντός του αρχικού κορμού του "Δον Κιχώτη" και η υποκατάσταση του συγγραφέα από άλλα "προσωπεία"-συγγραφείς, η οποία υποσκάπτει καθ' εαυτήν την έννοια του πανταχού παρόντος Δημιουργού αποδομώντας την εξουσία του, αποδεικνύουν τη μεγαλοφυία ενός συγγραφέα Προ-Μηθέα σε σχέση με την εποχή του.
Ακόμα και στο τέλος που ο "γνωστικός" πλέον Δον Κιχώτης αποσύρεται άδοξα και δια παντός από τη σκηνή της "Ανθρώπινης Κωμωδίας" που ο ίδιος βίωσε ως "Ηρωικό Δράμα", η σκιά του πλανόδιου ιππότη, η "Δύναμις και η Δόξα", θα συνεχίζει να περιφέρεται στον "απομαγεμένο" κόσμο της Νεωτερικής λογοτεχνίας, "στοιχειώνοντας" δημιουργικά τους επιγόνους.
Εν τέλει, στην αναπόφευκτη ερώτηση (κάθε φορά που τη διαβάζω εξοργίζομαι!): "Μα τι έχει να προσφέρει ένα τόσο παλιό βιβλίο στον σύγχρονο αναγνώστη;" η απάντηση σε αυτόν που την κάνει είναι ξεκάθαρη: "Απολύτως τίποτα!" Όχι γιατί -θυμίζω ξανά τον Χέγκελ- ο ήρωας δεν είναι ήρωας, αλλά γιατί ο υπηρέτης είναι υπηρέτης. Οι λοιποί ενδιαφερόμενοι, δεν χρήζουν νουθεσίας - έχουν ήδη προστρέξει. ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Pat rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: spagna, classici

Mio caro don Chisciotte,
sono passati decenni dal nostro primo incontro. Bimbetta settenne, m’accompagnasti per mano nel tuo mondo incantato.
Imparai a vedere il bello grazie a te che, iniziata l’avventura, trasformasti in castello l’osteria. E sempre grazie a te capii che anche la più folle delle idee si può coltivare e nutrire come il fiore più bello.
Ridano pure gli stolti. Continuino a ravvisare mulini a vento al posto dei giganti.
Ci salutammo alla fine del viaggio. Sapevo che avrei potuto Mio caro don Chisciotte,
sono passati decenni dal nostro primo incontro. Bimbetta settenne, m’accompagnasti per mano nel tuo mondo incantato.
Imparai a vedere il bello grazie a te che, iniziata l’avventura, trasformasti in castello l’osteria. E sempre grazie a te capii che anche la più folle delle idee si può coltivare e nutrire come il fiore più bello.
Ridano pure gli stolti. Continuino a ravvisare mulini a vento al posto dei giganti.
Ci salutammo alla fine del viaggio. Sapevo che avrei potuto ritrovarti. E così è stato.
Oggi, ti ho seguito come feci allora. E ritrovo la dignità, la saggezza e la bontà che varcano i confini della follia, quella follia che appartiene esclusivamente ai puri d’anima. E che forse vien chiamata follia in luogo di saggezza o sapienza intrisa d’intelligenza e nobiltà. Vien chiamata follia la smisurata ambizione di sanare soprusi e ingiustizie. Perché solo quella follia fa nascere chi deve resuscitare quelli della Tavola Rotonda, i Dodici di Francia, i Nove della Fama. Solo quella follia dà vita a chi deve cacciare nell’oblio i Piatir, i Tablante, Olivante e Tirante, i Febo e i Belianigi e tutti i cavalieri erranti. E se per il tuo coraggio senti “scoppiare il cuore in petto per la voglia che ha di affrontare quest’avventura, quanto più essa si annunzia difficile”, a me che ti seguo fa lo stesso effetto.
Il cuore scoppia in petto ogni volta che la fantasia sfida con irriverenza la realtà, scoppia in petto quando l’ordinario si fa straordinario, quando la diversità se la ride della normalità. Il cuore scoppia in petto per ogni diversità che si fa vessillo e procede a testa alta senza piegarsi al volere dei “normali”.
Quei “normali” che vivranno savi e morranno folli, mentre tu, come tutti i puri di cuore, potrai fare il contrario. Non prima d’aver lasciato al mondo un segno indelebile. Un sogno. Non importa quale. Ognuno troverà il suo.
Viviamo folli finché possiamo, ché a morir savi siam sempre a tempo.

Giace qui l’hidalgo forte
il cui valore arrivò
a tal punto che ebbe in sorte
che la morte non trionfò
della vita con la morte.
Poco il mondo calcolò.
Se ebbe d’orco la figura,
un’insolita misura
la ventura in lui provò:
visse pazzo e morì savio.

Adiós, don Chisciotte. Un abrazo. ...more

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Sep 23, 2009 Fabian rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

1050 pages. & not once was I like, "This ain't worth it." It is!

The novel about novels (my favorite motif of all lit is lit within lit... storytelling...you know...?) is actually a novel about love. The three voyages by Don Quixote are obvious metaphors for life and all the characters he meets along the road are romantically inclined, bored and in want of change. Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, provide ample entertainment for them and for us, the reader.

This relationship lasted a m 1050 pages. & not once was I like, "This ain't worth it." It is!

The novel about novels (my favorite motif of all lit is lit within lit... storytelling...you know...?) is actually a novel about love. The three voyages by Don Quixote are obvious metaphors for life and all the characters he meets along the road are romantically inclined, bored and in want of change. Don Quixote and his squire, Sancho Panza, provide ample entertainment for them and for us, the reader.

This relationship lasted a month and I cannot recall a single detriment. It is structured like The Arabian Nights and The Canterbury Tales---that is, much is told of the character telling the story, and of his or her potential maddness or sanity. This dualism is explored to the fullest & characterized by moments of sheer happiness and almost-delirium. There is a world established here, and did it actually occur? The characters fall into apocrypha and then into stark reality. It is no mistake that Cervantes foretold what the two adventurers realize at about page 900: they will be famous for all time and their images shall be ingrained everywhere. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are immortal in Spain and can be seen pretty much in every town traversed. The self-sppointed prophecy lives to this VERY DAY!!!! That fiction merges with history, that the book is self consious and post modern... all these things and more are part of the Quixote legend.

I say the book is about love because everyone suffers from the disease: Don Quixote loves his tales of knight errantry, and his own views of chivalry clash with those of the folks he meets. He is progressively antiquarian. Sancho is in love with his master, has a very stable view on life (he attains the title of governor and insists, ten days later, to quit and continue his life with his knight) and talking in proverbs he displays, until Book II of course, a wisdom that has obviously evolved, like the story, like the character, like the reader. There are plenty of characters in love with damsels, there are peasants in love with a good laugh (even the ass and Rozinante, the "Knight of the Rueful Figure"'s steed, find eternal companionship) and then there is the reader, an IMPORTANT FIGURE IN THIS ADVENTURE (also) who is sure to fall under the enchantment of this classic that defies conventional storytelling and has absolutely no rival. ...more

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Jun 08, 2011 Lyndz rated it really liked it

Shelves: reviewed

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. ...more

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About Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

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Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His novel Don Quixote is often considered his magnum opus, as well as the first modern novel.
It is assumed that Miguel de Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares. His father was Rodrigo de Cervantes, a surgeon of cordoban descent. Little is known of his mother Leonor de Cortinas, except that she was a native of Arganda del ...more