Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Cultural Intolerance in Early Modern Spainĭon Quixote sheds light on a moment in Spain's history that can inspire us in our own period, which is witnessing a rise of xenophobia and political intolerance. Many of these secondary plots involve characterizations that capture a broad cross section of society in Early Modern Spain. This review focuses solely on the first volume, with its many minor characters whose stories are framed by Don Quixote’s misadventures. Cervantes apparently had to hurry to finish the second volume because another author, Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, had already produced an apocryphal second volume, which Cervantes pokes fun at in his own text. Its 'sequel' (in contemporary terms) was published in 1615. What we now consider one novel, the first modern novel, was originally published as two books. The first volume was published in 1605 and it became widely popular. You'll forget about the page numbers and be drawn in (thanks in part to modern translation). While reading it, these concerns melted away for me because its humor still rings with a perfect pitch. This may be because of its size or a fear that it will be dense or archaic.

It's a shame that more contemporary readers don't read it. Meanwhile, the novel has inspired many well-known authors including Melville, Flaubert, Kafka, Nabokov, Dostoyevsky, Proust, Jorge Luis Borges and others. A mad knight-errant charges at windmills, thinking they’re giants, while his squire looks on, perplexed by his master’s strange behavior. The protagonist’s blend of idealism and impracticality has been distilled into a mere adjective, 'quixotic'. If you've never read Don Quixote ( The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra), you're probably at least familiar with its most famous scene.

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra