Tentatively, Convenience's Reviews > Don Quixote

A take-off of the romance novels of knights roughly from 100 yrs before its writing, this was (so I'm told) written in debtor's prison for the entertainment of his fellow unfortunates - w/ the characters based on the inmates. As such, a humorous fantasy meant to take the imprisoned's minds off their troubles & to poke fun at the standards of the society of the day. But, then, it's ridiculous for me to even write a review about this. I have nothing to say about it that hasn't been sd by many others much better. I can at least note that I've read one of the knight romances from 1490, "Tirant Lo Blanc", & its brutality alone makes "Don Quixote" far preferable to me. On "Tirant Lo Blanc"'s back cover is written:

"God help me!" shouted the priest. "Here's Tirant Lo Blanc! Give it here friend, for I promise you I've found a wealth of pleasure and a gold mine of enjoyment in it . . . I swear to you, my friend, that it's the best book of its kind in the world . . . the author deserved to have it kept in print all his life. Take it home and read it, and you'll see everything I've said is true."

& this quote is attributed to: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote