Don Quixote

Additional Don Quixote Information

Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece. Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. Unless you read Spanish, you've never read Don Quixote.

"Though there have been many valuable English translations of Don Quixote, I would commend Edith Grossman's version for the extraordinarily high quality of her prose. The Knight and Sancho are so eloquently rendered by Grossman that the vitality of their characterization is more clearly conveyed than ever before. There is also an astonishing contextualization of Don Quixote and Sancho in Grossman's translation that I believe has not been achieved before. The spiritual atmosphere of a Spain already in steep decline can be felt throughout, thanks to her heightened quality of diction.

Grossman might be called the Glenn Gould of translators, because she, too, articulates every note. Reading her amazing mode of finding equivalents in English for Cervantes's darkening vision is an entrance into a further understanding of why this great book contains within itself all the novels that have followed in its sublime wake."

From the Introduction by Harold Bloom

Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547, in Alcala de Henares, Spain. At twenty-three he enlisted in the Spanish militia and in 1571 fought against the Turks in the battle of Lepanto, where a gunshot wound permanently crippled his left hand. He spent four more years at sea and then another five as a slave after being captured by Barbary pirates. Ransomed by his family, he returned to Madrid but his disability hampered him; it was in debtor's prison that he began to write Don Quixote. Cervantes wrote many other works, including poems and plays, but he remains best known as the author of Don Quixote. He died on April 23, 1616.

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The book was delivered in a timely manner and was in excellent shape.R.L.Rex

This is not a book to have missed. Or to read it fresh again.I wondered for years whether I could really tackle this book but its genius, wit and charm carried me through all the almost numbing series of escapades, parodies, and misadventures to Don Quixote's ultimate repudiation of the sentimental (in the sense used by Laurence Sterne) morals of bad popular fiction through which Don Quixote caused so much havoc. Ms. If you can love fictious characters then, what memorable creatures to meet and know.For those of us not fluent in Spanish Edith Grossman's translation into accessible English with just the right dose of complex sentance structure has the most authentic feel.

Finally a translation that is readable and yet not drenched in modern idiom and tastes. Here is the chance to fill the void. Grossman's scholarship, with unobtrusive footnotes, adds dimension to the importance of the book, author, the times and Cervantes delightfully vicious assaults on the literature of the day, his rivals, and especially on a hoax second volume written by another unknown author. This translation feels like a story written by a Renaisance man who was a soldier, captive of a Barbary pirate, unrelenting literary critic and artist.

Bilingual colleagues have agreed with that assessment. I highly recommend it. Anyone interested enough to compare reviews and consider a book of this heft and price knows the basic story and has seen or heard "The Man of La Mancha." But, now is the time to read the original. Yet, in all the satire and parody the humanity of the hero and his squire shine through.

In fact, I found it to be incredibly lame and borderline offensively stupid. Yes, I understand the book has a much broader meaning than the literal adventures of a deranged "knight" (i.e. I don't. I don't mean to compare a piece of classic literature like "Don Quixote" directly to a piece of garbage like "Borat", but there are similarities in that vein. exposing social customs as learned, trivial, and sometimes fragile when challenged, all this accomplished through an 'out-of-period' character). From that perspective it is a novel worth reading and I don't want to discourage anyone from giving it a try, especially if you're one of the few people who thoroughly enjoys reading as I do. This novel was not for me - maybe you'll think it's funny. Throughout the novel he accosts innocent bystanders, spews chivalric nonsense to them, and then carries out some ill-contrived, stupid and predictable plot on them - and in some cases causes them physical harm.

I didn't find this book to be in the least bit amusing. "Don Quixote" is a classic in it's own right and incredibly well written. Yes, he charges the windmill and the sail, predictably, knocks him off his horse. Yeah, that's it. I guess if you think jacking with people who mind their own business is funny then you would - like all those a-holes who thought "Borat" was so hysterical.

Does this sound funny to you. Pretty hilarious. Griswold stepped on wooden planks in his attic, which repeatedly struck him in his face.again.and again. I don't care if the book is a witty social satire; there are plenty of other writers who accomplish the same goal by far less annoying and more clever means. That was an exciting page and a half out of 500+.and Clark W. Cervantes is a very gifted writer.I guess I just don't get it.

Quixote's most famous "adventure" is when he charges a windmill, which he believes is a giant. Half-way through the novel I wanted someone to kill Don Quixote to end the "adventure" - he deserved it. What I don't get is the "humor" everyone keeps talking about. Each adventure is tedious, repititious, and inane.and there's over 500 pages of it.

However to be fair, Sancho Panza receives the brunt of those punishments.That is the end of part one.Part two, which was written ten years later, reintroduces us to the now famous Don Quixote and Sancho Panza which are the victims of cruel jokes by rich neighbors. Even Cervantes' self deprecating and self glamorizing humor is intact. Quixano has become obsessed with books about knights and chivalry (very popular at the time the story was written) and believes that they are true to their words despite the fact that many of the events are clearly unrealistic. I believe that it is a great disservice to Cervantes that Don Quixote is being thought of as a drama only to disregard the story's comedic aspects.Among the 1,000 pages of the book, Cervantes weaves unrelated background stories of characters which the duo meets on their adventures.

This is by far the translation of Don Quixote I have enjoyed the most.I do not know if Ms. Don Quixote gains back his sanity and proves a capable ruler only to be met, again, with disastrous results. Quixano's friends think that he has lost his mind from too much reading, too little sleep and food depravation.From here the delusional Quixano sets out in search of adventure and takes on his nom de'guerre "Don Quixote de la Mancha" while announcing his love to a neighbor's daughter (unbeknown to her) renaming her "Dulcinea del Toboso".What follows are adventure of mishap occasionally occurring because Don Quixote has a habit for sticking his nose in matters which are none of his business, using chivalry as an excuse to pick a fight wherever he can - only to be defeated, injured and humiliated. Grossman's translation does justice to the original Spanish version because I haven't read it but I enjoyed this book tremendously.I enjoyed that Ms.

I found that to be an advantage in such a long book because I could put the book down for a few weeks, read another book, and come back without missing a beat.I believe that if you would take away the "classic literature" label from this book, which so many people find terrifying, you'll find a funny story, sometimes sad yet very modern even by today's standards.If you are not familiar with the story of Don Quixote then here is a very short summary: Alonso Quixano is a retired country gentleman in his fifties who lives in La Mancha with his niece and housekeeper. He dies sane and sad instead of delusionary and happy.While part one is whimsical, part two seemed to me very melancholy and more philosophical Grossman tried to capture not only the story, but also the prose, rhythm and style of writing of the era even it was long winded and somewhat tedious. The foot notes also help the non-Spanish speaker understand more of background to the stories, the prose and inside jokes.Even though this book was written centuries ago I found it contemporary, charming, hilarious and accessible.

Literature is great, but I would rather not stick this one out for the ending. The reviewer says there are 20 translations of the original, but I think I may have found another one on my bookshelf. I probably won't get past the first few pages since a synopsis told me he ends his life a "sane, but broken man".