Don Quixote

by Miguel de Cervantes
List(s):"Carp 500"
"Racine Library List"
Category: "Fiction - Adventure"
Pages:1050
Year of Publication:1615
Date Read:02/11/1994
Notes:The tale of Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panze. Their picaresque adventures in the world of sixteenth-century Spain are a comic satire on the chivalric romances then in vogue. An elderly knight, his head bemused by reading romances, sets out with his old horse Rosinante, and Sancho Panza, to seek adventure. In the process, he also finds love in the person of the peasant, Dulcinea.

COMMENTS — Cervantes served in the Spanish army and fought against the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. He received several wounds and lost the use of his left hand. A few years later, on the way back to Spain, he was captured by pirates and held captive in Algiers for five years. He was finally released when a group of friars paid his large ransom, but now he was in debt. He got a job as a government official collecting supplies for the Armada. After the fleet’s defeat, Cervantes applied for permission to live in the New World. He was turned down, so he looked for other employment — as a writer.
My Rating: 6

Reviews for Don Quixote

Review - Don Quixote

Considering when it was written, it was pretty good, but redundant in the extreme. The adventures were better in the first half, the dialogue in the second, especially when Sancho was speaking. I'm pretty sure Cervantes found Sancho to be the more interesting character — I certainly did. Cervantes is said to have had deep insight into the spirit of mankind, but I think he just intended it to be a parody of the books of knighthood popular at that time.

Reviewed by Roger on 2003-07-20 09:10:41

Back to the list