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Title: Don Quixote De LA Mancha (Oxford World's Classics) by Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra, Charles Jarvis, E. C. Riley ISBN: 0-19-283483-5 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: August, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.45 (86 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Where to begin?
Comment: How do I, a literary amateur, rate a book nearly 400 years old that has been acclaimed by not a few scholarly experts as the greatest novel ever written? I feel a bit like the boy who had the temerity to point out that the emperor was naked, for I have failed to award Don Quixote five stars. Judged by modern-day standards, Cervantes could be accused of sloppiness. He confuses the chronology of his own storyline in several places, though this is as charming as it is perplexing. Seeking to satirically skewer the tales of chivalrous knights-errant popular at the time, Cervantes presents us with Quixote, a loveable madman, and his squire, Sancho Panza, who fluctuates between utter naivete and admirable sagacity throughout. The pair are nothing if not endearing. Sallying forth to right wrongs, assist the down-trodden, and punish the wicked, the two find themselves in a pragmatic and cynical world, astonished and humored by the lunatic idealism of Quixote and the simpleminded fealty of his squire.
Over the course of 5 weeks I read Don Quixote and the experience was varied. At times enthralled, at times merely mildly amused, I looked eagerly forward to resuming the book and, on occasion, half-heartedly attempted to avoid it. To be blunt, there is much in the book that borders on childlike innocence, but there is much as well that strikes a deep chord of love, idealism, perserverence, and grace. On the surface, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza could be regarded as fools. Beneath this foolishness, however, lie the hearts of lions and an unconquerable spirit which provide the ultimate reward to the reader.
The book ends abruptly and badly. After so many adventures through so many pages it was disappointing to behold the manner in which Cervantes opted to close. However, this should by no means dissuade the potential reader. Indeed, Don Quixote, for everything wonderful contained within it, should be read by all. For those who choose to do so, the Putnam translation is outstanding and footnoted with excellent detail.
Rating: 4
Summary: Conflict between Reality and Fantasy
Comment: In the adventure novel of "Don Quixote", a man named Alanso Quixano, dreams of becoming a knight. The only problem is that there haven't been any knights around for many years. Into the mind of Alanso comes the character named Don Quixote of La Mancha, a knight. Along with his squire Sancho Panza, and his trusty horse Rocinante, he sets out on an adventure, honoring and telling of Don Quixote's love, Dolcinea del Toboso. Along his way, Don Quixote mistakes fantasy for reality. Don Quixote fights for the honor of his love, Dolcinea. Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra establishes a great deal of honor throughout book. Don Quixote, is honoring his love for Dolcinea del Toboso by fighing every battle for her honor.
Cervantes establishes the theme of differences between reality and fantasy throughout the book. In Alanso's mind what is happening to him is happening to Don Quixote. Alasno can't decipher the difference between reality and fantasy. All the other characters in the book know the difference between reality and fantasy and know Alanso is living a fantasy. Through this contrast between reality and fantasy we discover that sometimes we have to fight no matter what the consequence.
Rating: 4
Summary: 4 and 1/2 Stars
Comment: One of the great classics of world literature, Don Quixote is very often called the greatest novel of all-time. Many also see it as the first modern novel, the precursor to all novels that have come since; some, indeed, even call it the first true novel ever written. Certainly, it is both world-famous -- almost all people, whether they've tackled this 1,000+page monster or not, seem to know about the "terrifying and never-before-heard of adventure of the windmills" -- and extremely influential upon all literature that has come since. The great Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky thought it was the best thing ever written; it was clearly one of Mark Twain's primary inspirations for Huck Finn.
The book has endured and remained popular and influential for four hundred years for several reasons. For one, the character of Don Quixote himself is immortal. One of the most famous characters in all literature, he has appeared in various forms throughout the centuries -- on the page, on the stage, on the screen. Clearly a huge influence upon a multitude of subsequent literary characters, he is one of the great archetypes in literature. Also, the story itself works on several levels. On one level, it is a highly comic adventure that can be read and enjoyed by everyone; a hugely-popular both upon release and still today, this is probably the main reason why it has lasted four centuries. Even at this later date, the book contains scenes that are laugh-out-loud funny, its jokes running the gamut from the most base level of slapstick to ringing burlesque and satire. Despite the novel's length, it is a very entertaining book and rarely slow: it can actually be an exciting and fast-paced read, if one chooses to view it merely as an adventure. However, on a deeper level, the novel, fascinatingly, does several different things at once, and all very well. To begin with, it is a truly immortal satire, both on the outdated and hopelessly idealistic chivalric code itself and on the romantic books of knight-errantry that proclaimed their virtues and were extremely popular at the time Cervantes wrote this work. Wit is abundant and ever-present.
As an author, Cervantes clearly had several tricks up his proverbial sleeve when writing this; he employs literary devices so charming, amusing, and inventive that they have never been equaled since. Indeed, this book was so very far ahead of its time that it makes many of the supposedly revolutionary post-modern novels seem mainstream and absolutely traditional by comparison. For, after all, this is a book about books; it is, thus, the ultimate self-reflexive text. As the introduction in this edition points out, the book actually tells two stories: that of Don Quixote, and that of the novel's composition itself. The number of self-references made in it can only be called ingenious. Several circumstances informed this. The mammoth book, as we know it today, was originally published in two halves, over a decade apart. Throughout, Cervantes constantly reminds us that the book is a book; in the second part, even the characters are aware of this, making for an intensely amusing and clever read. Also, before Cervantes published the second part, an impostor author released his own spurious sequel. Cervantes, responding in kind, changed the course of the book and wrote the apocryphal sequel into his own sequel, in addition to the first part of his own narrative! It isn't as confusing as it sounds -- indeed, it's quite delightful and inventive -- but the author himself, infamously, lost the course of his own narrative several times and lapsed into error. Of course, this, too, is noted later on in the book and commented upon as well. Literature as a whole is also commented upon. The author, in the second part, even addresses the criticisms of the first part, such as its digressions (which he defends, but stays away from in Part II) and its loose ends. The scene where the curate is selecting which books to burn and which to save is one of the most satirically-amusing ever written.
The book, for all of its burlesque and even occasional lack of seriousness, also brings several important questions to light. What is reality? What makes one noble? If one does noble and brave deeds only because one is deluded, is one then noble in reality, or merely a poor farce and a walking joke? For these, and many other reasons, Don Quixote is a classic that deserves to be read by all.
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Title: Don Quixote (Cliffs Notes) by Marianne Sturman ISBN: 0822004151 Publisher: Cliffs Notes Pub. Date: 08 July, 1964 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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Title: The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had by Susan Wise Bauer ISBN: 0393050947 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Divine Comedy : Inferno; Purgatorio; Paradiso (in one volume) by Dante ISBN: 0679433139 Publisher: Everyman's Library Pub. Date: 28 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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Title: Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, Leo Damrosch ISBN: 0451527321 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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Title: Moby-Dick by HERMAN MELVILLE ISBN: 0553213113 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 February, 1981 List Price(USD): $4.95 |
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