Lectures on Don Quixote

by Vladimir Nabokov, Fredson Bowers (Editor), Guy Davenport (Foreword)

A master teacher and critic as well as a novelist, Nabokov created a fastidiously shaped series of lectures based on a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the Spanish classic, recording his insights as he proceeded. Since his teaching methods relied heavily on quotation from the author under discussion, this summary consisted in part of his own narrative and in part of quotations from the Putnam translation.

Rejecting the common interpretation of Don Quixote as a warm satire, Nabokov perceives the work as a catalog of cruelty through which the gaunt knight passes, retaining both honor and innocence. Along with Lectures on Literature and Lectures on Russian Literature, this book allows the reader access to one of the truly original literary thinkers of our era as he focuses his eye on the masterworks of Western literature.

Edited and with a Preface by Fredson Bowers; photographs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Literature, Essays, Books About Books, Criticism, Reference

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Russian: Владимир Набоков .

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin, was a Russian-American novelist. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist. He also made significant contributions to lepidoptery, and had a big interest in chess problems.

Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is frequently cited as his most important novel, and is at any rate his most widely known one, exhibiting the love of intricate wordplay and descriptive detail that characterized all his works.

Lolita was ranked fourth in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels; Pale Fire (1962) was ranked 53rd on the same list, and his memoir, Speak, Memory (1951), was listed eighth on the publisher's list of the 20th century's greatest nonfiction. He was also a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction seven times.

Reviews

[Getzemaní · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

A work of breathtaking arrogance and misunderstanding, made even less tolerable by Guy Davenport’s mindless and sycophantic forward. Nabokov is less interested in carefully examining Cervantes’s novel than in using his text as a means of generating charming (cough, cough, awkwardly belletristic) critiques of Don Quixote. I found myself cringing at every turn, as I watched Nabokov gleefully failing to understand Cervantes chapter after chapter, belittling the Spaniard with a smugness so extravagant and persistent I felt physically sick. Nabokov laboriously copied out lengthy chapter-by-chapter summaries, summaries which the editor included in this volume’s appendix. This only makes Nabokov’s blindness of the book’s merits all the more embarrassing. At the end of the day, I forgive Nabokov for these lecture notes, as he did not intend to have them published. They were posthumously published by somebody else. It’s not, also, as if Nabokov’s notes are wholly deprived of critical insight, but the tone is so insufferable and the insights so minimal (he appears interested only in showing off his capacity to devise “dazzling” phrases) that I think these notes are among the most embarrassing things he ever wrote. Nabokov thought he was writing some Harvard lecture notes that would demolish Don Quixote’s allegedly ill-earned reputation for students and colleagues alike; instead, he only succeeded in demonstrating how blinded a man could be by his immense literary vanity.

Some days ago, I asked a professor of mine what he thought of Nabokov’s book. He said Nabokov was just jealous. As he would’ve had to have understood Cervantes to be jealous of him, I disagree. Nabokov’s notes show few signs of genuine comprehension. It’s surprising, as his other lecture series are quite strong.

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Según una leyenda literaria, cuyo asidero en la realidad desconozco, Nabokov se vio obligado a dar unas clases de pregrado sobre Don Quijote a estudiantes de la Universidad de Harvard y Cornell. Los apuntes de estas clases conforman, en gran medida, la publicación reseñada.

El interés del libro radica en la curiosidad que uno siente por saber qué opina del Quijote un autor como Nabokov, que pareciera, como autor, compartir ciertas afinidades con Cervantes, entre las que destacan un sentido satírico y un amor por los juegos de palabra. Al final, uno se siente profundamente insatisfecho, pues se encuentra con un profesor más bien seco al que no parece atraerle mucho la novela que expone; domina la sensación de un escrito realizado por obligación más que por gusto, y ocasionalmente parece estar más interesado en criticar por criticar, o criticar para épater la bourgeoisie --¿sus estudiantes?

La mejor parte del libro es cuando deja de lado su rol de profesor de literatura y propone su propia versión del final del Quijote, cediendo por un momento, al impulso de jugar con el Quijote que ha tocado a tantos autores y novelistas, desde que Alonso Fernández Avellaneda escribió la falsa segunda parte de El Quijote en 1615 hasta nuestros días, pasando por Grahame Green ("Monsignor Quixote"), Jorge Luis Borges ("Pierre Menard, el autor del Quijote"), Iván Goncharov ("Oblomov") y muchas de las destacadas figuras literarias que colaboraron en la dispareja antología "La Cervantiada".

La sensación de aridez intelectual aparece en varias observaciones sobre Nabokov como profesor. En Wikipedia se dice que Nabokov consideraba que "...readers should not merely empathise with characters but that a 'higher' aesthetic enjoyment should be attained, partly by paying great attention to details of style and structure. He detested what he saw as 'general ideas' in novels, and so when teaching Ulysses, for example, he would insist students keep an eye on where the characters were in Dublin (with the aid of a map) rather than teaching the complex Irish history that many critics see as being essential to an understanding of the novel.". En un ensayo titulado
"Nabokov, or Nostalgia", Danilo Kiš escribió que la concepción del según Nabokov es "magnífica, compleja y estéril". Según la misma entrada de Wikipedia sobre Nabobov, el poeta ruso Yevgeny Yevtushenko llegó a decir que, en la prosa de Nabokov, escuchaba "el traqueteo de instrumentos quirúrgicos".

En resumen, si está interesado en crítica literaria sobre el ingenioso hidalgo, hay trabajos muchos más interesantes y agudos. Si le interesa la reacción de Nabokov al Quijote, échele un vistazo a estas clases, pero hágase un favor, ármese de tolerancia y sáltese el resumen de los capítulos de la obra.

[GD · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a big disappointment. I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't a sourpuss Nabokov being extremely arrogant and edgy in trying to belittle a battleship of a classic. Which needless to say is exactly what this was. In this collection of lecture papers slapped together by the editor, we find a guy who really doesn't like Don Quixote finding himself in the position of having to teach it at Harvard, and desperately looking around for ways to present it, grabbing at straws ("pegs," he calls them, from which to hang his narrative theory) that will give him a way to meet the university's requirements and at the same time show that he is a clever, witty, biting, penetrating, modern-minded critic. You can tell he revels in what he likes to think of as "tearing the book apart." Maybe because the critic who sees everything as a cliche has itself become a cliche, but I just don't find Nabokov as informative or amusing as he seems to want to be found. His little jibes at Americans, movie-goers, etc., just sound like the pretentious crap you'd hear from modern-day university freshmen. Not recommended for fans of Don Quixote, but maybe for people that are looking for a reason not to read it, this is what's called for.

[Sidharth Vardhan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do not have much value if you have already read Nabhokov's 'Lectures on Literature'.

[Jamie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was amazing. Nabokov was forced to lecture on Don Quixote in order to teach for a semester at Harvard, but he went into it with a total disdain for the book. So what did he do? He went through it with the finest-toothed comb you could possibly imagine, took copious and meticulous notes, and came out of it with a much greater respect and admiration for Cervantes' work.

I wasn't the hugest fan of DQ when I finished it, either, so I figured I'd take up some scholarly works to see if I could get a better respect. Needless to say, this was absolutely perfect to do that. Obviously, you wouldn't want to read this if you haven't read DQ itself, but I really enjoyed this book.

[Jason Furman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good accompaniment to Don Quixote, marred only by Nabokov's less-than-complete love for the novel. It is six lectures he gave at Harvard that ranges from more conventional discussion to more novel presentations, like a scorecard that goes through the 40 "battles" in the book, classifies them into different types, and calls each one a win or a loss. Turns out the final score was 20-20.

Nabokov might be right that the novel would have been even better if Don Quixote's final combat was with the false Don Quixote from the false Part Two that wasn't written by Cervantes. Oh well.

[Ricardo Carrión Pavez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un curso sumamente fantástico para todo tipo de lector; para los que quieran conocer El Quijote como para los que ya lo han leído. La seriedad, entusiasmo y talento pedagógico de Nabokov lo hacen único. Su método tan poco convencional difumina completamente todas las sombras que puedan ocultar la realidad sobre el libro de Cervantes. Dejando en evidencia lo verdaderamente rescatable como lo es y será siempre su personaje principal: don Quijote de la Mancha.

[Piero Marmanillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vladimir Nabokov realiza un estupendo análisis del Quijote (El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha de1605 y la Segunda parte del ingenioso caballero Don Quijote de la Mancha de 1615 del español Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra).

Este libro reúne las notas que preparó Nabokov que le sirvieron para dictar clases sobre el Quijote en la Universidad de Harvard donde ejerció como profesor visitante en el semestre de primavera del año académico 1951 - 1952.

Según la opinión de Harry Levin, profesor principal del segundo semestre dedicado a la Novela, el Quijote era el punto de partida lógico para hablar de evolución de la novela. Nabokov estaba de acuerdo con él y empezó a preparar sus lecciones.

Nabokov estructuró sus lecciones en cinco capítulos: 1) Dos retratos: Don Quijote y Sancho Panza; 2) Cuestiones de estructura; 3) Engaño y crueldad; 4) El tema del cronista, Dulcinea y la muerte; 5) Victorias y Derrotas.

He aquì algunas citas del autor:

Sobre 1) Dos retratos: Don Quijote y Sancho Panza:

Dice Nabokov: «Estoy pensando sobre todo en la primera parte de la obra, pues en la segunda se observan algunos cambios extraños en el carácter de don Quijote: Junto a lapsos de lucidez conoce lapsos de miedo. Asì que subrayarìamos de nuevo el dato de su coraje aboluto olvidàndonos, por asì decirlo, de cierta escena de la segunda parte donde tiembla de miedo porque su cuarto se llena de gatos. Pero en conjunto es, entre los caballeros andantes, el màs valiente y el màs enamorado de cuantos hubo en el mundo. No tiene malicia; es confiado como un niño. Hasta el punto de que su puerilidad destaca a veces quizà màs de lo que prentendìa destacarla su creador. Cuando un cierto giro de la novela, en el capìtulo 25 de la primera parte, se le ocurre hacer "locuras" como penitencia -"locuras" premeditadas a sumar sobre su locura normal, digamos"-, demuestra una imaginaciòn de escolar bastante limitada en materia de barrabasadas»,

Sobre Sancho Panza, dice Nabokov: «el sutil e inspirado crìtico español Salvador de Madariaga ve en Sancho una especie de transposición de don Quijote en otra clave. Es cierto que ya al final de la obra los dos parecen intercambiarse sueños y destinos, pues es Sancho el que vuelve a su aldea en èxtasis de aventuras, con la cabeza llena de esplendores, y es don Quijote el que le dice secamente: "Dèjate desas sandeces". De modo que podrìamos decir que Sancho, vigoroso y viril por temperamento, presto a la ira y atemperado por la experiencia, rehuye los combates desiguales e inùtiles no porque sea un pusilànime, sino porque es un guerrero màs cauto que don Quijote».

Sobre 2) Cuestiones de estructura:

Dice Nabokov: «Pero antes unas consideraciones generales. Se ha dicho del Quijote que es la mejor novela de todos los tiempos. Eso es una tonterìa, por supuesto. La realidad es que no es ni siquiera una de las mejores del mundo, pero su protagonista, cuya personalidad es una invención genial de Cervantes, se cierne de tal modo sobre el horizonte de la literatura, coloso flaco sobre un jamelgo enteco, que el libro vive y vivirá gracias a la auténtica vitalidad que Cervantes ha insuflado en el personaje central de una historia muy deshilvanada y chapucera, que solo se tiene en pie porque la maravillosa intuición artìstica de su creador hace entrar en acción a don Quijote en los momentos oportunos del relato.»

Sobre 3) Engaño y crueldad:


Dice Nabokov: «Las dos partes del Quijote componen una auténtica enciclopedia de la crueldad. Desde ese punto de vista, es uno de los libros más amargos y bárbaros de todos los tiempos. Y su crueldad es artìsitica.»


Sobre: 4) El tema del cronista, Dulcinea y la muerte:


Dice Nabokov: «Como ustedes recordarán, antes enumeré diez puntos o aspectos en relación con la estructura del libro que nos ocupa. Algunos, como el uso que hace Cervantes de citas de romances y de dichos populares, o sus juegos de palabras, solo fue posible mencionarlos de pasada porque no podemos palpar el texto original a través de los estratos superpuestos de una traducción, por buena que sea. Nos detuvimos un par de minutos en otros puntos, como el arte excelente de los diálogos de la obra y el convecionalismo pseudopoético de sus descripciones de la naturaleza. Señalé el hecho de que, en la evolución de la literatura, la personalidad del entorno sensual ha ido muy a la zaga de la personalidad del habla humana.»

«Ahora va a ocurrir una cosa muy curiosa. Mientras Cervantes anda inventando encantadores que supuestamente han escrito su libro, y mientras dentro del libro don Quijote anda peleándose con encantadores salidos de los libros de caballerías, Cervantes -el autor real- se da de manos a boca con un encantador en el nivela de la llamada "vida real". Y va a servirse de esa circunstancia como instrumento particular para divertir al lector»


Sobre: 5) Victorias y Derrotas:


Dice Nabokov: «de los cuarenta episodiso en los que don Quijote hace de caballero andante, que esos episodios revelan ciertos elementos de estructura artística admirables, un cierto equilibrio y una cierta unidad; impresiones que no serían posibles si todos sus encuentros hubieran acabado en derrota para él. En sus cuarenta encuentros, don Quijote tiene que habérselas con muy diversos seres y artilurgios.»

Nabokov destaca por su sensibilidad artística y su gran imaginación creativa, en ese sentido, en este capítulo presenta a las batallas de don Quijote como un largo juego de tenis (!), con sus victorias y derrotas sumando puntos para ganar o perder sets. ¿Podrà don Quijote ganar el partido a sus enemigos?


Asimismo el libro contiene narración y comentario que realizó Nabokov del Quijote (ambas partes, la de 1605 y 1615, que sirve como un recordatorio de todas las aventuras). Además se añaden dos apéndices sobre pasajes de Novelas de caballerías (se tratan de Le Morte d'Arthur de sir Thomas Malory y Amadís de Gaula de Vasco Lobeira) que Nabokov tenía a la mano para complementar sus lecciones. 


Finalmente el libro contiene imágenes de los manuscritos de Nabokov y una sección de notas explicativas.


Recomendable para quien disfrute de conocer más sobre Don Quijote.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

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."

[Nora D Tinta y Papel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creo que mis expectativas eran muy altas. Estamos ante las notas de Vladimir Nabokov al dar su curso sobre el Quijote. Hay varios puntos a considerar.
1. Considero que hay que leerlo después de haber leído el quijote o ya avanzado el libro.
2. De la segunda mitad en adelante encontramos un resumen por capítulo.
3. Nos enfrentamos a comentarios referentes a la traducción del Quijote en inglés y de cómo afecta la lectura. Interesante para nosotros traductores. Tal vez no tanto para el lector más enfocado a la historia.
4. No creo que sea un gran libro de soporte para leer El Quijote. Con tener una edición anotada basta.
5. Se mencionan fragmentos o mapas que no se incluyen en el libro.

[meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nobokov almost totally hates Don Quixote, which comes through here, which is what makes this rambling collection almost totally worthwhile.

[Phrodrick slowed his growing backlog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some years ago when I betook myself to read Don Quixote, I came away from it disappointed. Book I seemed to be most of what was promised, but by the end of Book 2 I was unhappy with the constant beatings of the protagonist and the general level of cruel behavior. I never did a review of Don Quixote, thinking I was missing something everyone else understood. With my take on the Don, it was a huge relief to read that in the opinion of a great thinker, multi-lingual author of important novels, and lecturer, Don Quixote is needlessly cruel, violent and not the best in great literature. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lectures on Don Quixote let me know I was on to something.

For example I think that Don Quixote is the literary progenitor of terrorism. The essence of terrorism is that the world is only an image, designed to seduce and that random violence in the name of purification, of the self or the world is to do holy work. The Don is self-deluded. He believes that what he sees is the work of an evil enchanter and can be made better by the use of the sword and lance. The injured are deserving of their injuries and the injuries suffered are cleansing.

Re-consider the famous Tilting at Windmills. The world as an image produced by evil enchanters. The windmills are evil not because they are evil but because someone wanting to create a more perfect world needs to see them as evil enchantments. And so seeing, it targeted. And somehow this madman’s attack is romantic? Try something I have never heard anyone suggest: View the attack from the POV of the windmill owners. That family must pay for any damages and suffer the loss of whatever wheat is not ground to flour and so the trail of damages accumulates long after this famous ‘comic turn’. Once the incident is over, and the windmill is back in service-or is it forever stigmatized as possessed or a symbol of evil?

Where this the only case of innocence people more or less randomly assaulted the windmills would be just that, an incident. Instead the books contain nearly continuous acts of that random violence in the name of abstract ideas and not to produce a definition of madness; but as is a justification of violence to make the world a more perfect place.

Vast parts of book 2 of the Don Adventures might be slap stick to some but to me it is people bleeding and broken. Too often in the name of elaborate, designed to be harmful jokes, run on a man who we are supposed to believe is at minimum innocent and at most sincerely believing in hisown goodness. Slap stick ends somewhere between lost teeth, bleeding faces and being blasted and burned. Legitimate slap stick does not leave the victim bed ridden for weeks.

Lest someone accuse me or Nabokov of binary thinking. There are more choices than terrible and great. The Don has pride of place as one of if not the first modern novel. I suspect that it was not the first but the first to survive the market place of time and this is a mark of greatness. Nabokov admires much that is admirable in Cervantes’s novel, but VN’s job was to provide six lectures, at Harvard U no less, of critical analysis, he would have been derelict had he not pointed to both the best and the less than.

For example Nabokov reminds us that much of the violence and romanticism was in keeping with the named songs of the great Knights errant. From this light some fraction of the violence was part of the satire. Up to the reader is how much was in service of satire and how much was just violence.
At the lower end of Nabokov’s analysis are the occasions when the story line conflicts with itself: Sancho’s’ mule is stolen from him and returns absent explanation. People finish dinner, then an adventure and sit down to dinner. Some of these situations hardly matter except as a reminder that editing was not the profession it would become before being gutted by the profit motive.

I have read other literary lectures by Nabokov. I do not get exactly why he was fixated with the geography of the fiction writer or why he chooses to criticize Cervantes for being bad at geography. It is hard to believe that even a contemporary Spanish reader picked up on the errors in the fictionalized Spain of the Woeful Knights wanderings.

There is much to learn or to add to your understanding of the great early Novel, Don Quixote by reading Vladimir Nabokov’s Lectures on Don Quixote. However even this should be read critically. It is not Nabokov at his best but just as the original has its limitations, so too does parts of these lectures.

Included in the published edition are extensive notes by Nabokov intended as outside reading for his students. Reading these will help to prove that VN does respect his subject and acknowledges its greatness. He also is honest enough to state when a passage or chapter is filling.

[Seval Yılmaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Aya Vandenbussche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have some issues with Nabokov's quite superficial definition of cruelty in Don Quixote. I also think he conveniently skip, ignore, dismisses as nonsense, and houses over parts of Don Quixote that either don't fit with his world view or that seem irrelevant to him. As a result, he minimises the book's importance in the history of storytelling and ignores certain vital aspects of the book, like the relationship Between Don Quixote and Sacha Panza, and the relationship between them and the world they live and adventure in. The overall tone is quite arrogant, but at times it is justifyingly so.
That said, this is one of the most in depth, thorough and mostly comprehensive reading of Don Quixote I have come across. The research work and preparations alone are really impressive and inspiring. The discussion about enchantment is excellent, as is the detailing of the different convoluted narrators and narration devices. Including fun speculations about the 'False Quixote'. While I may dispute some of it, his account of Quixote's victories vs defeat. As is his summery of each chapter.
As a fan of Don Quixote, and someone with a deep interest in it, this was worth a read and it was a good one.

[Nana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Respeto su opinión incorrecta pero no la comparto.

[Malina S]

Very much enjoyed though i disagreed with a lot.


“[Quixote] has ridden for three hundred and fifty years through the jungles and tundras of human thought… we don’t laugh at him any longer. His blazon is pity, his banner is beauty. He stands for everything that is gentle, forlorn, pure, unselfish, and gallant.” P. 119

[Víctor Paredes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok, boomer

[Yauheni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Оказалось, не так интересно и информативно, но написано красиво.

[Daniel Wong · Rating 4 out of 5]

El Quijote es de mis novelas favoritas. Y no concuerdo con esos comentarios que dicen que a Nobokov le falta objetividad, que le tenía envidia a Cervantes, que no lo entendió, etc.

Hay que tener mucha objetividad para identificar los deslices de una novela como el Quijote y librarse de la pasión que la novela puede causar a quien lo lea, incluido Nabokov. En muchas partes enaltece lo bellamente que están escritos ciertos capítulos y pasajes y nos recuerda que Cervantes más que escritor era un artista y que eso fue lo que salvó una novela que realmente carece de estructura narrativa. Nabokov lo entendió muy bien no solo a Cervantes, sino al mismo Alonso Quijano.

Si existe algún tipo de crítica negativa es hacia la sociedad de la época, que vio en el Quijote una obra humorística y humanista. Las torturas físicas y psicológicas hacia el Quijote y Sancho son realmente desalmadas, pero era parte del humor de una época y cultura y eso sí le critico a Nabokov el no poner a la obra en su contexto histórico de la época. Pero sí, efectivamente hay mucho daño en esta novela hacia sus protagonistas.

Tal vez la crítica mas fuerte hacia esa sociedad es la hipocresía religiosa. Es decir, vez como torturan a una persona durante meses y con acciones que recuerdan a las que tuvo que sufrir un cierto personaje religioso. Nabokov se pregunta, porque te da risa lo que le pasa al Quijote y Sancho pero te das de latigazos por lo que le pasó al otro personaje. El dolor es diferente si eres humano o dios?

Me gustaron los cursos de Nabokov, me dió otra mirada del Quijote, sobre todo en la técnica que usaba Cervantes para entrelazar historias y tener tantos metarelatos y hasta 5 dimensiones distintas de narradores (como muñecas rusas).

Fue placentero leer el resumen de los dos tomos a través de los ojos de Nabokov. Me hubiera gustado, eso sí, un poco más de teoría literarira y paralelismos con otras obras. Las pocas veces que lo hizo aprendí mucho.

[barbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

No interest in reading a mocking criticism of Don Quijote. From the foreword, the mood of the work is set clear: Nabovok hates Cervantes, thinks him a pretentious prick and wants to tear the book apart. Following up those statements, I could literally hear him sigh as he tried to make sense of Cervante's geography of Spain (who the fucks care anyway) and portrait a really unfair comparison with fellow contemporary William Shakespeare.

I think Nabokov is a superb storyteller and literary critic, however, his patent dislike and excessive snobbery forced me to look for a comprehensive study of Don Quijote elsewhere. Which is a pitty. The book is devised in a clever way, much of the commentary is actually on point and constructive, but there's the underlying feeling throughout the whole book of, on the one hand, a hatred for everything and everyone Cervantes created and the way he played out situations and characters. On the other hand, I think it's impossible to miss the respect he has for the novel and its legacy. That tension comes out every other paragraph and interrupts the reading experience. It's like dealing with a grumpy and immature child and I just can't be bothered.

Sorry (s)Noby.

[Miguel · Rating 2 out of 5]

"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*.

[Sps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat restrained. Less entertaining than the Lectures on Russian and English literature. Many of the best bits so far are in the notes, omitted material, and interlined comments. His summaries, especially when he feels Cervantes is being tedious, are wry, as here for Part 2, Chapter 60: "The bandits capture two captains of Spanish infantry and some pilgrims on their way to Rome. Also some women. Usual stuff."(203)

Really through it I'm sort of laying the table for the book to come. Ready now to meet the gentle Don, the half-mad curate, that brutal ducal pair, and Sancho Panza, who "is the grandpa of all tycoons,"(140) with the appropriate cutlery.



antes de leer:
Widely available through ILL. To read before, alongside, or after Cervantes?

[William Huber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nabokov has to be in my top five list of 20th Century authors in terms of originality and language, so I thought his lectures might explain why Don Quixote remains one of the must-read books of all time beyond the academic fact he has been proclaimed the inventor of the novel. No such luck. I found myself nodding off in the middle of each lecture –just as I did during most college lectures. The most interesting part was how he maintains humor has evolved over the centuries and how in those long ago much crueler times people used to find laughs in people getting hit over the head with a board. And fart jokes. Today, not so much. The insight: Vlad never saw a Three Stooges movie and died before YouTube. The chapter-by-chapter summary is a lot better than Spark Notes.

[Adam Hare · Rating 2 out of 5]

The majority of this book is just a summary of the novel. I don’t think Nabokov adds much in his lectures, except to point out some minor details and highlight the cruelty played for laughs throughout. I would recommend reading this only if you don’t plan on reading Cervantes or want a refresher. The chapter-by-chapter quotation-heavy recapitulations that make up most of this book do a good job of jogging the memory or giving you a sense of the major beats if you aren’t engaging with the roughly thousand pages of the original.

[Kay · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don Quixote

This the worse piece of literary criticism I have ever read. It is 80% summary and 19% complaining about how bad the book, and 1% of the time he says what a genius Cervantes is.

[Yiğit Yavuz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don Quixote, bizde yerleşik adıyla Don Kişot, roman türünün atası kabul edilen eser ve birçoklarınca, “şimdiye kadar yazılmış en büyük roman” kabul ediliyor. Miguel de Cervantes Saavera’nın eseri, 1605 ve 1615 yıllarında iki cilt olarak basılmış. Bilindiği gibi, okuduğu şövalye romanlarının etkisiyle aklını kaybeden ve kendine De Mancha’lı Don Quixote adını layık görerek yollarak düşen yaşlı bir adamın hikâyesi. Çok bölümlü ve bölümleri birbirinden epey farklılık gösteren, çok farklı edebi teknikleri içinde barındıran bir metin. Türkçe çevirisiyle tam adı “La Mancha'lı Yaratıcı Asilzade Don Quijote” olan eserin bilinen ve saygın çevirisi, Roza Hakmen’e ait ve Yapı Kredi Yayınları tarafından yayımlandı.

Don Quixote son derece önemli bir roman olmakla birlikte, şimdiye dek ülkemizde bu eser üzerine yapılmış önemli çalışmalar pek yayınlanmadı. Bu eksiklik, geçen yıl Vladimir Nabokov’un “Don Quixote Dersleri”nin İletişim Yayınları yayınlanmasıyla bir nebze giderildi. Nabokov’un Harvard Üniversitesi’nde misafir okutman olarak bulunduğu dönemde tuttuğu bu notlar hem çok özgün, hem de çok kapsamlı ve önemli.

Dersler 294 sayfa. Bu hacmin ilk 164 sayfasında, Cervantes’in eseri eleştirel analize tabi tutuluyor; kalan kısımda ise romanın 74 bölümü ayrı ayrı özetlenip açıklanıyor. Genel okura tat verecek nitelikteki birinci bölümdeki analizler ve yargılar, hem ince, hem de keskin. İkinci bölüm ise Nabokov’un hayranlık uyandırıcı çalışkanlığının gövde gösterisi adeta; ama daha çok, Don Quijote üzerine edebi ya da akademik bir çalışma yapanların işine yarayacak nitelikte.

Esasen, Nabokov’un La Mancha’lı Yaratıcı Asilzade Don Quijote hakkındaki fikirleri, romanın hayranlarını pek mutlu etmeyecek. Nabokov, Don Quijote’nin şimdiye kadar yazılmış en muhteşem roman olduğu kanısını “saçmalık” olarak nitelendiriyor. Romanı ağır şekilde eleştiriyor. Bu eleştiriler yer yer, Nabokov’un meşhur Dostoyevski yergilerini dahi gölgede bırakacak denli sert.  
Don Quijote'nin başarısının, romanın kendine özgü değerinden ziyade dış merkezli yayınımından, yani basılmasından hemen sonra birçok dile çevrilmesinden kaynaklandığı inancında.

Cervantes hayranları bu yorumları haksız ve ölçüsüz bulabilir. Ama kitapta Nabokov’un edebi dedektifliğinin, kabına sığmaz zekâsının, eşsiz okurluğunun ve ince mizahının tadını çıkarmak lazım. Nabokov belki her şeyden fazla olmak üzere, olgulara farklı algı düzeylerinde yaklaşmanın olanaklı olduğunu ve gerçeğin ele avuca sığmazlığını hissettiriyor. Don Quijote’ye ayırdığı mesai, kitapla ilgili tüm olumsuz yorumlarına karşın, Cervantes’in belki de en iyi okurunun Nabokov olduğunu gösteriyor.

Önce Roza Hakmen çevirisiyle Don Quixote’nin ve ardından Emrah Serdan çevirisiyle “Don Quixote Dersleri”nin okunmasını tavsiye ederim.

[Shaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Pancho Pantera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nabokov se acerca al Quijote como quien mira un cuadro: le importan los colores, los trazos, los detalles escondidos, más que el sermón que se pueda sacar. Lo primero que ve es la crueldad: en los primeros capítulos, el pobre hidalgo es golpeado, engañado y ridiculizado sin piedad. Para Nabokov, el humor de Cervantes a veces roza la brutalidad.

Pero no se queda ahí. Señala que en la segunda parte algo cambia: el Quijote deja de ser solo un viejo ridículo y empieza a crecer como figura noble y trágica. Ya no lo vemos solo como “el loco de la aldea”, sino como alguien que persiste en soñar cuando el mundo lo aplasta. Eso, para Nabokov, es arte: que el personaje evolucione ante nuestros ojos.

Además, se fija en los pequeños motivos que regresan: la bacía que se convierte en yelmo, los molinos, los encantamientos, la ínsula prometida a Sancho. Nabokov dice: “no se queden en la anécdota, sigan los hilos que se repiten, porque ahí está la verdadera unidad del libro”.

También resalta a Sancho Panza. Al principio es solo un campesino interesado en ganar algo, pero poco a poco se quijotiza: empieza a hablar con refranes, pero también a creer en los sueños de su amo. Esa amistad —que nace desigual— termina siendo el corazón humano de la novela.

Finalmente, el juego narrativo de Cervantes lo maravilla: el supuesto cronista árabe, los manuscritos, el “traductor”. Nabokov reconoce en eso una semilla de la novela moderna: una obra que se burla de sí misma y de cómo se cuenta.

Y el cierre: Alonso Quijano recobra la cordura y muere. Para Nabokov, esa sencillez es desgarradora: después de tanta ilusión, la vida termina con una calma triste, como un telón que cae sin música.

⸻

Así que, en lenguaje sencillo:
Nabokov ve un libro que empieza como parodia cruel, pero se convierte en historia de dignidad y amistad, tejido con detalles y símbolos que regresan, narrado con un ingenio que anticipa la novela moderna, y que termina con una tragedia serena.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

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Collected here are Nabokov's Harvard lectures on Don Quixote, as well as a lengthy chapter summary and commentary. I was surprised to learn that Nabokov wasn't very impressed with Cervantes's epic farce at first and only began to appreciate the book after a careful re-reading while preparing his lesson plans. Die-hard Don Quixote fans might take issue with Nabokov's constant literary criticism but I enjoyed his honesty and agreed with 99 percent of his takes.

The biggest revelation of the book is Nabokov's alternate ending to the story, which is far superior to Cervantes's version. I wrote at greater length about that here.

I enjoyed the book but can only recommend it in good faith to fans of both Don Quixote and Nabokov. If hate one or the other, skip this one.
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