kleph
16-04-2005, 11:08 PM
In 1605, an former soldier and tax collector who had plied his hand at various forms of literature published a little book that he had writted during a stay in prison. The writer was Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and his book was Don Quixote it became an overnight sensation and much much more.
Often called the first modern novel, originally conceived as a comic satire against the chivalric romances. It is neither wholly tragedy nor wholly comedy Don Quixote gives a panoramic view of the 17th-century Spanish society. If it were just that it would be remembered, but Don Quixote is something else. It is one of the few books whose influence has transformed a language.
The critic Harold Bloom described it as a "canon" work - one that has become a foundation for the language it was written in (the archtype of this would be Shakespeare). Cervantes, much like Shakespeare, strove to give a picture of real life and manners in his work. Working in the format of the novel he crafted his work with the ideal of using the clearest language possible.
The style, manner and temperament of Don Quixote has influenced all Spanish literature in the centuries since and has had a profound influence on the spoken language as well (Shakespeare, given his medium of choice, has obviously had a greater impact in the latter sphere on his mother tounge). To understand the Spanish temperament, you must understand this work.
But, like all truely great works of literature, Don Quixote is, at its core, a great story. There is an undeniable charm and beauty to this tale of the elderly, idealistic knight, who sets out on his old horse Rosinante to seek adventure, and the materialistic squire Sancho Panza, who accompanies his master from failure to another.
So, if as Mark Twain said, a literatry classic is a book which people praise and don't read, why not use the 400th anniversary of this books publication to break it open and see what it is all about? There are numerous different online versions of the text available at The Cervantes Project (http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/english/).
Often called the first modern novel, originally conceived as a comic satire against the chivalric romances. It is neither wholly tragedy nor wholly comedy Don Quixote gives a panoramic view of the 17th-century Spanish society. If it were just that it would be remembered, but Don Quixote is something else. It is one of the few books whose influence has transformed a language.
The critic Harold Bloom described it as a "canon" work - one that has become a foundation for the language it was written in (the archtype of this would be Shakespeare). Cervantes, much like Shakespeare, strove to give a picture of real life and manners in his work. Working in the format of the novel he crafted his work with the ideal of using the clearest language possible.
The style, manner and temperament of Don Quixote has influenced all Spanish literature in the centuries since and has had a profound influence on the spoken language as well (Shakespeare, given his medium of choice, has obviously had a greater impact in the latter sphere on his mother tounge). To understand the Spanish temperament, you must understand this work.
But, like all truely great works of literature, Don Quixote is, at its core, a great story. There is an undeniable charm and beauty to this tale of the elderly, idealistic knight, who sets out on his old horse Rosinante to seek adventure, and the materialistic squire Sancho Panza, who accompanies his master from failure to another.
So, if as Mark Twain said, a literatry classic is a book which people praise and don't read, why not use the 400th anniversary of this books publication to break it open and see what it is all about? There are numerous different online versions of the text available at The Cervantes Project (http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/english/).