Don Quixote online

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Don Quixote online

Don Quixote has become so entranced reading tales of chivalry that he decides to

turn knight errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza,

these exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often

leads him astray—he tilts at windmills, imagining them to be giants—Sancho

acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam

the world together-and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for

nearly four hundred years.

With its experimental form and literary playfulness, Don Quixote has been

generally recognized as the first modern novel. This Penguin Classics edition, with

its beautiful new cover design, includes John Rutherford's masterly translation,

which does full justice to the energy and wit of Cervantes's prose, as well as a

brilliant critical introduction by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarriá.

Reviews:

Considered by many to be one of the first modern novels, it is a hilarious exploration of 16th and 17th century Spain, all through the eyes of the chivalrous knight errant, Don Quixote, and his ever faithful squire, Sancho Panza.

Around the age of fifty, there was a man who, after reading countless chivalric romances, decided to adopt the name of Don Quixote and explore the world, righting wrongs, rescuing maidens and slaying giants. Deluded by the grandeur of his favourite stories, Quixote sees the world differently to normal men. An inn is not an inn but a castle, a monk not a monk but a wandering vagabond to be slain, a life-worn prostitute not a whore but a beautiful princess. After a rapid series of events, Quixote returns home, battered and bruised from the fights he has lost, in his mind a glorious knight errant returning from many victories. He convinces his neighbour, Sancho Panza, of his prowess, and the two set off once more, the first adventure they experience together being the famous windmill fight - the windmill that Quixote took to be a giant.

Over the next nine hundred pages or so, the relationship between Quixote and Panza develops into deep affection. The greatest pleasure is to be derived from reading their addled conversations, how they twist ordinary events into epic circumstances, and how willing Panza is to believe Quixote's exaggerations. He is promised early in the book that he will one day govern an island, and holds on to this for many months through ridiculous adventure after ridiculous adventure. Throughout, he shows an amusing level of stupidity, but also a staggering insight, seemingly able to change between the two within a sentence. And the proverbs!

Don Quixote is a very intelligent man, when he is not discussing chivalry. He is able to converse at great length of all manner of subjects, and every word he says seems wise and true. But turn the conversation to being a knight, or the never-seen love of his life, Dulcinea del Toboso, and he becomes a raving mad-man, spewing forth opinions and ideas that could never be believed. He is much given to grand gestures, turning a simple apology into a two paragraph discourse,

highlighting ancient instances of forgiveness and sadness. The amount of references that he crams into his speech is simply amazing, and I am thankful that my Penguin Classics translation saw fit to explain them. From the bible to Greek mythology to current day (at the time) events and people to fictional giants and sorcerers to characters from books, Quixote is willing and able to place them in his speech in a way that feels effortless.

The book is in two parts, of roughly equal size, and the first is the best. In the second, the first part of the book has been published, and everyone is aware of who Quixote and Panza are. Consequently, many people take advantage of them, and it isn't so funny to see the two being ridiculed so harshly. Also, the narrator becomes a little too self-referential for my liking, a technique that wasn't present in the first book and feels awkward in the second.

But the beauty of this book is in the friendship. Sancho Panza is one of the greatest characters I have ever read, I truly feel a fondness for him and wish there were a thousand more books written of him. Don Quixote is larger than life, a caricature of a caricature, and it is a delight to read his rants. There is a sense that - if Cervantes hadn't killed off Quixote at the very end of his book to prevent further stories being written - that the two men would, even know, be travelling the countryside of Spain, bickering and chatting, secure in the knowledge that Don Quixote is an amazing knight, and that Sancho Panza is his ever faithful squire.

The book is a classic and a joy to read, everyone should read this utterly delightful book. About the translation: this is a top-flight translation for sure and since the translator is british the language does have a british flare to it at times, e.g. "bloody hell!". While I personally prefer to Raffel translation, you can't go wrong with this quality production. Buy this now!

To download now click the link below:

Don Quixote online