Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

This thread is to discuss the classic Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra starting May 1

Hi Jalilah! I did start this, but I am only 1 chapter in! ;)
I must say... I regret my Italian translation, the language choices are very weird... Hopefully I'll get used to it...

I just started too and I’m also still adjusting;)
It sometimes takes me a while to get used to a new book. I realize although I’ve heard about Don Quixote all my life, I didn’t know what it was about.
I’m still not sure what it’s going to be about

Jalilah wrote: "I just started too and I’m also still adjusting;)
It sometimes takes me a while to get used to a new book. I realize although I’ve heard about Don Quixote all my life, I didn’t know what it was ab..."

How is the reading coming along?

Tamara wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "I just started too and I’m also still adjusting;)
It sometimes takes me a while to get used to a new book. I realize although I’ve heard about Don Quixote all my life, I didn’t kno..."

Thanks for asking Tamara! I’m only up to chapter 7. I don’t have a lot of time and am also reading other books. Because it’s a classic I’ve always wanted to read, I’ll keep reading, but honestly I’m not loving it. Maybe it’s because I’m not good with comedy? I just don’t find him thinking windmills giants that funny. I also don’t think it’s funny when he keeps attacking people. Am I missing something? What was it that you loved so much about it! I would love to read your thoughts!

Jalilah, hang in there with it.

I love it, but not just because of the comedy. I love the character, and I love the contrast he represents with Sancho.

We are told in the beginning of the novel that Don Quixote becomes so obsessed with tales of chivalry that he goes completely mad. He decides to set off like a knight in shining armor and fight injustice wherever he perceives it. The problem is he is completely out of sync with his time. He distorts reality to make it conform to his vision. He confuses windmills with giants, etc. etc.

What makes him so endearing to me is he is a man with a dream to do his part to make the world right, to fight for justice, to rescue the oppressed. But every time he tries that, it back fires on him and he ends up hurting people. And he doesn't see it, which make it all the more poignant.

In my mind, DQ confuses the noble causes represented by knights of a long ago era with the trappings of knighthood. He puts on a makeshift helmet and carries a makeshift sword and he thinks he has become a knight. In other words, instead of applying the principles of chivalry to his time and place, he takes their words literally and thinks by donning the outfit, he has become a knight.

For me, this novel is one for the ages. I've read it about half a dozen times. I try to read it at least once every ten years because I get something new out of it each time. I love the character. He has got a beautiful spirit. He tries so hard to do the right thing. He has a dream, a vision to make this world a better place. He can teach us so much about what we see happening today and the dangers of applying literal readings of a text instead of adapting the principles the text embodies to today's world.

I can gush about this novel forever. I don't mind admitting that every time I read it, I cry when I get to the end of the novel. I think I've said enough for now :)

Thank you for the metatextual reading Tamara!
Like Jalilah, I'm also struggling with the book, but I am only at Chapter 5...
I am also not finding it funny, but your thoughts are very interesting, and I will try to look at it differently.
Unfortunately I am also struggling with the translation, I guess the old-timey Italian fits the original, but I am not used to it anymore... I wonder if I would enjoy it more with a more moder translation...

Andy wrote: "Thank you for the metatextual reading Tamara!..."

You're welcome, Andy.

I'm very slow, I'm at chapter 6 now!

I wonder if this is one of those books where you can appreciate it only if you know all those references to other things... Mind you, I personally call The Divine Comedy the "Novella 2000" of the 1300 for a very similar reason (referencing facts and throwing shades on people that everyone has forgotten), so I might become a bit salty if it continues... :P

Though I must say, Don Quixote has met some very bad people now, he's not so wrong in wanting to make the world a better place...

Andy wrote: "I'm very slow, I'm at chapter 6 now!

I wonder if this is one of those books where you can appreciate it only if you know all those references to other things... Mind you, I personally call The Div..."

I took a break to read other books and started again today . I’m at chapter 14 and I hate to say it, but I’m not liking it any more.
There are many classics I absolutely love and have read multiple times, but I guess this isn’t one of them. For now I’m just going to take my time and read a few chapters in between books

Jalilah wrote: "Andy wrote: "I'm very slow, I'm at chapter 6 now!

I wonder if this is one of those books where you can appreciate it only if you know all those references to other things... Mind you, I personally..."

I'm afraid I'm doing the same! I feel very bad for it - sorry! But I can't deal with a book I'm not invested in at the moment - I had a very difficult month... I'll restart again in August if I feel more up to it!

Sorry Jalilah!

Andy wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "Andy wrote: "I'm very slow, I'm at chapter 6 now!

I wonder if this is one of those books where you can appreciate it only if you know all those references to other things... Mind y..."

No need to apologize Andy! It is the same for me. I will just be reading a few chapters in between other books I read.

Browsing around, and look what I've found, a group that can't tolerate Cervantes' sound. Except for one, that is...

Don Quixote is special. He was the first, after all, the first prose novel that I know of. He's also a great idea, as a knight errant, a protagonist fool. Unless you consider long suffering Pancho as the true hero, being of the lower class, with none of the nobility but all the common sense. The architecture is all in place for a truly great novel.

But then we get a thousand pages of anecdotes. Something you might publish weekly, by the chapter, in a paper, something like Dickens hundreds of years later. There have been countless books of this sort. Gargantua and Pantagruel would fit. My own pen name, Count Fathom, is cut from that cloth. Once you've read a dozen stories of DQ and his adventures, most of us have had enough.

But DQ sticks. I only read him through once, and yet he's always stayed with me. As an icon to the absurdity of life you won't find better. As a mockery of nobility he shines bright. As a world turned upside down he is a foundational brick.

But I don't think you need study in detail every exploit of Don Quixote to understand what it is that Cervantes wanted to say. Nor do we need to wax poetic about his great accomplishment. It's a series of amusing tales to relieve the boredom of the unlaboured class. More than this, it's a skewering of the rich - at least those that think being so makes one a better person than others. I wouldn't think Miguel himself had any pretense to artistic mastery. He filled his time writing DQ because he liked to do so, and so that others could fill their time being entertained. Good enough. I like him. He has his place in literature and in my heart.

Are you still reading this? I thought you would have stopped several paragraphs ago. I have nothing left to say right now. Til next time...

Count wrote: "Browsing around, and look what I've found, a group that can't tolerate Cervantes' sound. Except for one, that is...

Don Quixote is special. He was the first, after all, the first prose novel that ..."

That’s for sharing your thoughts! I discontinued because I kept finding other books that grabbed me more, however I do intend at some point to continue.