Miguel de Cervantes - Reviews

Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Walter Starkie
Signet Classic
Fiction, General Fiction/Humor
Themes: Classics, Country Tales, Religious Themes
***+

Description

Some long time ago, in an otherwise nondescript Spanish village, a local gentleman went uniquely insane. His mind became corrupted by the popular fictions of knights-errant until he became convinced that not only was every word printed in those tales true, but that he himself was destined to revive their lost art. Convincing a local peasant, Sancho Panza, to serve as his faithful squire, he adopted the name Don Quixote, and rode out on his steed Rozinante to right wrongs, slay giants, defy enchanters, and earn the love of his imagined sweetheart, the lady Dulcinea (whom he had never even seen, but no true knight-errant could hope to succeed without pining for the love of an aloof and conveniently absent woman.) Despite their madness, Quixote and Panza would become legends: first in their own minds, then in the very sort of tales that broke the would-be knight's wits in the first place.

Review

Widely considered the first modern novel (the first part was published in 1605, the second in 1615), Don Quixote parodies the popular trend of outlandish knightly tales, presenting a delusional would-be knight whose "adventures" create far more havoc and sorrow than they generally rectify. It even spawned a spurious unauthorized sequel, which Cervantes skewers in unsubtle terms in the second part.
The story opens with a prologue in which Cervantes laments about his inability to write a proper prologue for lack of sonnets and epigrams and clever references to classical writers, whereby a friend basically tells him he can fudge it with sufficient style and nobody will notice. This self-aware mockery of his peers and genre continues throughout the story, particularly the first part, as Quixote's madness works overtime to reconcile the often-ridiculous contrivances of knight-errantry tales with the real world (and hapless Sancho Panza is drug along in his wake, torn between seeing his master's irrationality and succumbing to bouts of it himself.) The false knight's explanation for discrepancies between his ideas and reality usually boils down to persecution by enchanters, an airtight seal against the outside world which nothing and nobody can breach (and the sort of illogical logic one still sees in the world, especially with the rise of fact denial... but I digress.) The story wanders and rambles across the Spanish countryside and a variety of misadventures, often bogging down or dropping anchor altogether while Cervantes diverts into side stories and commentaries on social norms and other such ramblings - I suspect this is also in keeping with the parody aspect of his tale, though it's also possible it was Cervantes padding page count and enjoying the sound of his own written voice, which I believe has always been and will always be a thing with certain storytellers - which could make for some tedious reading; I admit I skimmed a few excessively tedious descriptions and diversions, particularly where it felt like Cervantes was using characters as mouthpieces for his own commentary. There's also a tendency for plot-convenient coincidences and abrupt endings to "adventures." The second half of the story sees Quixote and Panza gaining some fame after an unknown "historian" published their exploits - which leads to the spurious sequel, openly and repeatedly denounced by Quixote and Panza - and actually sees the madman given some measure of respect: for all that he may be delusional and often destructive, his aims are often more admirable than the people who extract amusement at his unwitting expense, and the idea of a "proper" storybook knight shows undoubted merit even if it cannot exist in reality. The conclusion, though, feels like an anticlimactic letdown.
While some of the contemporary humor and references are undoubtedly lost in translation (not just through language but through time and cultural shift), the general thrust remains fairly clear, and Don Quixote and Sancho Panza remain iconic archetypes. It may not be quite my cup of cocoa, but I've read less interesting classics.
As a closing note, this is yet another classic that feels it must start with a lengthy, spoiler-ridden analysis of both the work and the author by a contemporary authority figure. I suppose this further reveals my overall lack of sophistication and general intelligence, but why do publishers and translators feel compelled to do this? Why not start with a smaller, shorter introduction (if need be) to whet the reader's appetite, and save the heavy details for an afterword? Even if I have read the story before, allow me to refresh my memory before digging into the details and trivia and subtexts and whatnot that are evidently so fascinating they require double-digit page counts to explore. (And if I haven't read the story before, the spoilers are even less welcome, and the trivia less relevant.)