Don Quixote

by Miguel de Cervantes, (tr.) Edith Grossman | Children's Books | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0060934344 Global Overview for this book
Registered by crazy-book-lady of Toronto, Ontario Canada on 5/23/2005
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by crazy-book-lady from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Monday, May 23, 2005
Planning to read this book this summer (after all, it is the 400th anniversary of the publication of the first part of the book), so I am currenly doing some background reading in preparation (The Enamoured Knight by Douglas Glover), as well as listening to a three part CBC radio program about the book. I may use these journal entries to keep track of my progress. Wish me luck!

I recently met the translator, Edith Grossman, at a Cervantes symposium in Toronto, so this copy is inscribed, signed, and dated.

Journal Entry 2 by crazy-book-lady from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Wednesday, August 10, 2005
An update:

I started the book on July 24, 2005, at 10:30am, while in the car nearing the Maine/New Brunswick border. (Luckily, my stomach has always tolerated reading in the car, and my hubby doesn't mind me being antisocial while he is driving.) Taking a deep breath, I dove in...

Within minutes, I was laughing and reading out loud parts of Cervantes' prologue (I thought this was a good sign). He laments to a friend (very tongue-in-cheek) that the public will not take the book seriously because it doesn't cite ancient philosophers, or holy scripture, or drop names of famous authors who have influenced the work. The friend replies that he should just invent some sonnets or poems to add to the beginning of the book and attribute them to distinguished people (no one will know the difference), and to make the book more scholarly, just throw in some Latin (and the friend gives examples of some useful phrases).

We are now back in Toronto, and so far I have reached page 669 (part 2, chapter 32) of 940, so I should be able to finish it before my holidays end.

Don Quixote (DQ) and Sancho Panza (SP) have such an "Abbott & Costello" type relationship. DQ gets annoyed with SP because he talks all the time (often in proverbs) and he tells him to shut up. Then a couple of pages later SP will say that he has an important comment to make, but he has been told not to talk, so he'll just keep it to himself, and DQ gets annoyed all over again and has to pry the comments out of him.

It is apparent that the two characters really care for each other. SP will annoy DQ, who sometimes seems to act annoyed and affronted, but at the same time seems to enjoy SP's company and his non-stop chattering. SP recognizes that DQ sometimes interprets situations in his own way (i.e. thinking a herd of sheep is an advancing army), but believes in him as a kight errant and comes to his defence when people mock him. At times, SP seems to be protecting DQ, not in a physical way, but emotionally.

I think an important point is that DQ is not totally crazy or delusional (as I think he is portrayed in popular culture), just with respect to chivalric romance literature. He is so obsessed with the genre, that he has decided to go out into the world as a knight errant and act out the things he has read in the books. He converses on other topics very lucidly (many characters that he encounters comment on this) and he often does see situations as they really are. There is a very funny bit when he and SP are in some woods at night and are terrified by a noise. The next morning, they walk toward the noise to find out what it is, and find water wheels running "fulling hammers" (hammers used to pound wool or leather). SP mocks DQ for saying the previous night (while they were both terrified) that he would protect him from this danger, because he was born for "great deeds" and "valiant feats". DQ sees that they are fulling hammers and is embarassed, sputters that even a knight errant can't be expected to know what all noises are, and smacks SP with his lance. In fact, SP gets smacked around an awful lot, usually by DQ.

I'll continue my comments later - I must actually do some reading today!

Journal Entry 3 by crazy-book-lady from Toronto, Ontario Canada on Saturday, August 13, 2005
Finished this morning around 11:30.

It is sad to leave these wonderful characters, and I think I will miss carting around this huge book which has been with me for the past three weeks. At least I finished it on my vacation so I don't have to worry about juggling it on the subway!

I'll write more later...

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