Enjoyable to Read: C
Impact on the World: A
Increased My Understanding of the World/People: C
Made Me Think: B
In fairness, I read an abridged version of Chales Jarvis' translation from Spanish. Could this work have lost a great deal in translation? Possibly. Like most people, I grew up with an awareness of Don Quixote - the crazy guy that attacked windmills. That was basically all I knew so I decided it was time to give the book a fair shake. My anticipation was high. After all, I had read that some guy named Lord Macaulay thought is was the best novel in the world beyond comparison. Sadly, Don Quixote does not deliver.
The story in a nutshell is that Don Quixote reads so many novels about chivalry and "knights errant" that he effectively goes insane and thinks he is a knight. He needs a squire so he recruits his neighbor, Sancho Panza. Since all knights errant require some beauty to be madly in love with, he picks a peasant girl from a neighboring village and assigns her the name Dulcinea del Toboso. The novel spring into action very quickly, with the windmill scene being one of the first adventures. This story is basically retold over and over with different circumstances for the first half of the book. The story is, Don Quixote sees something or someone and perceives it as something different (example - the windmills are giants that must be attacked). Sancho Panza tries repeatedly to convince Don Quixote that he is in error to no avail. Don Quixote is repeatedly hurt badly, although he accidentally "wins" a couple of times. Despite his attempts to stay out of trouble Sancho usually ends up in bad shape too. Don Quixote's promise of an island to rule once he attains honor is enough to keep Sancho in tow.
That is basically it for book one. My guess is that there is a lot of word play that simply doesn't translate well into English. The stories are funny but then just get repetitious and I don't understand the point.
The second book was published 10 years later and you can tell that Cervantes is trying to get much more philosophical. Most of the second half revolves around a duke and duchess that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza happen upon. By now, someone has published a book about Don Quixote's exploits and the Duke and Duchess are eager to host them. For their amusement, they stage all sorts of adventures for Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, who seem completely unaware that they are being toyed with. The Duchess even grants Sancho Panza an island to govern as a reward, although is happens to be just a city under their control that they call an island for this particular game.
I don't mean to completely write off this book; it has some merits. Don Quixote's persistent determination to be honorable and chivalrous, in the face of repeated humiliation and obstacles, is remarkable. The banter between Don Quixote and Sancho Panza is hilarious at times. The delight people take in mocking Don Quixote behind his back is tragically familiar. The whole premise is amusing.
Finally, I can't decide if I think this is the books finest point or is lowest, but Sancho Panza is a riddle. He seems to gradually go insane. He demonstrates shocking wisdom and insight during his tenure as ruler of his "island", while seeming to be oblivious to the fact that it is not an island. He seems keenly aware and occasionally embarrassed by Don Quixote's insanity, yet he clings to the promise of an island kingdom anyway. So the best thing about this book is trying to figure him out. The worst part is that I'm not convinced Cervantes really knew where he was going with this character either.
After struggling to even finish this abridged version, I found myself wondering if the claim that Don Quixote is the greatest novel of all time was a literary joke. As in, Don Quixote is the greatest novel of all time, just as Dulcinea del Toboso is the most beautiful woman in the world, his horse Rozinante is the greatest horse to ever bear a knight errant, and Don Quixote himself is the greatest knight to ever live.
This book will not be on my Cultured 100 list!
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