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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
So long. Definitely some funny parts but I just didn't understand the raves. Probably need to follow up by reading some literary criticisms.
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Das Buch der Bücher. Kaum kann ich sagen, wie so etwas zu bewerten sein soll. Sieht man auf die historische Bedeutung, auf die Wirkmacht, ist Perfektion unbezweifelbar. Wie aber ist "der Don" als Buch, als Bellestristik? In Susanne Langes grandioser Übersetzung (die als sprachliche Ko-Autorin somit ganz zu recht auf der ersten Seite steht) wirklich lustig, bildend, begeisternd. Eine einfache Lektüre darum trotzdem nicht, dafür hat diese Ausgabe zu viele Anmerkungen, sind die Geschichten zu zweideutig und auch zu tief verankert im Sprachschatz und Anschauungsmaterial europäischer Bildungsumfelder. Vielleicht hat das Buch auch unter zu langer Lektüre gelitten, haben manche Sätze zu viel Aufmerksamkeit erfahren. Verschlungen wird das Werk seinem Ziel sicherlich nicht minder gerecht.
Bevor man die kalifornischen Statistiker und Rationalisten schreien hört: Der Genius des Don Quijote liegt nicht allein in der Sprache, dem Ideenreichtum oder der Narration (im Gegenteil, hier kann man sogar manche Längen um des Publikums Willen erkennen - braucht es wirklich noch ein Abenteuer in noch einer Sierra?), sondern in seiner historischen Situiertheit (offenkundig!). Dass so ein Werk leere Leserei beendet und die spanische Literaturgesellschaft umwirft, man wüsste es auch ohne das informative Nachwort.
Nun bräuchte auch unsere Zeit wieder ihren Cervantes, der "True Crime", "Young Adult" oder Fantasy-Schinken mit mindestens tausend Seiten, hundert Rittern und zehn Zwergen so gründlich persifliert, dass man danach keine Auslage mehr ansehen kann, ohne lachen zu müssen.
Die Fiktionalität (auch der eigenen Biographie), die Musterhaftigkeit des Schreibens, die Symbolik des Erzählten, die Wiederkehr des Buches im Buch all das bietet und bot Stoff für unzählige Anschlussforschungen, gleichfalls der politische Kampf gegen Zensur, "ausländerfreie" spanische Landstriche in wirtschaftlichem Niedergang und das Festhalten an vermeintlich großen Männern der Vergangenheit, die geradezu aleatorisch-demokratische Methode mit der Bauernwanst Sancho plötzlich herrscht und dabei mit Feinsinn und Gerechtigkeit vorgeht, weil er den Witz der Sache versteht und psychologisch Quijotes spielerischer Wahnsinn (den er weiß, was er tut und auch, dass er nichts ist, ohne Quijote zu sein und dass es dafür wiederum keine Ursache gibt außer die: dass er es kann, "Wird ein fahrender Ritter nämlich mit Grund verrückt, was ist das für eine Kunst?" (S. 250) bieten Anlass für ein ganzes Leben des Denkens und Schreibens. Dafür gilt freilich: "Denn alles ist nur Kinderei, wenn man nicht fleißig studiert, die richtigen Fäden zieht und ein wenig Glück gepachtet hat". (S. 574). In diesem Sinne breche ich die Betrachtungen ab und weise lieber auf die endlosen Weiten der Literatur zurück, wie es auch Cervantes tat.
Mag nun all diese Quijotierung nur Blendwerk und Trug sein, sie lässt sich dennoch trefflich lesen. Und sie lässt eine tiefere Einsicht vermuten, die alles trägt und zugleich überdeckt: Es ist alles Spiel und meint nur etwas, weil der Mensch in seiner unendlichen Selbstautorenschaft es will. Nach Don Quijote ist kein Wort mehr ernst zu nehmen, doch erst das gibt dem Geschriebenen seine wahre Schönheit und Strahlkraft. Es gibt keine unerzählte Welt. Und der Text, der alles ausmacht, kann nur herrschen, weil er schwach ist und er kann nur ordnen, weil er frei ist. Frei wie ein lesender Landjunker, der sich selbst zum Helden macht, weil er seinen Namen und seine Geschichte nicht mehr bloß vorfindet, sondern wählt und dann hinausgeht, um zu sprechen. In diesem Sinne dürfen wir den Text nicht abgeben an das Maschinelle und dürfen den Raum nicht aufgeben, in dem das Rasierbecken der Helm des Mambrin werden kann. Viva la ficción!
Bevor man die kalifornischen Statistiker und Rationalisten schreien hört: Der Genius des Don Quijote liegt nicht allein in der Sprache, dem Ideenreichtum oder der Narration (im Gegenteil, hier kann man sogar manche Längen um des Publikums Willen erkennen - braucht es wirklich noch ein Abenteuer in noch einer Sierra?), sondern in seiner historischen Situiertheit (offenkundig!). Dass so ein Werk leere Leserei beendet und die spanische Literaturgesellschaft umwirft, man wüsste es auch ohne das informative Nachwort.
Nun bräuchte auch unsere Zeit wieder ihren Cervantes, der "True Crime", "Young Adult" oder Fantasy-Schinken mit mindestens tausend Seiten, hundert Rittern und zehn Zwergen so gründlich persifliert, dass man danach keine Auslage mehr ansehen kann, ohne lachen zu müssen.
Die Fiktionalität (auch der eigenen Biographie), die Musterhaftigkeit des Schreibens, die Symbolik des Erzählten, die Wiederkehr des Buches im Buch all das bietet und bot Stoff für unzählige Anschlussforschungen, gleichfalls der politische Kampf gegen Zensur, "ausländerfreie" spanische Landstriche in wirtschaftlichem Niedergang und das Festhalten an vermeintlich großen Männern der Vergangenheit, die geradezu aleatorisch-demokratische Methode mit der Bauernwanst Sancho plötzlich herrscht und dabei mit Feinsinn und Gerechtigkeit vorgeht, weil er den Witz der Sache versteht und psychologisch Quijotes spielerischer Wahnsinn (den er weiß, was er tut und auch, dass er nichts ist, ohne Quijote zu sein und dass es dafür wiederum keine Ursache gibt außer die: dass er es kann, "Wird ein fahrender Ritter nämlich mit Grund verrückt, was ist das für eine Kunst?" (S. 250) bieten Anlass für ein ganzes Leben des Denkens und Schreibens. Dafür gilt freilich: "Denn alles ist nur Kinderei, wenn man nicht fleißig studiert, die richtigen Fäden zieht und ein wenig Glück gepachtet hat". (S. 574). In diesem Sinne breche ich die Betrachtungen ab und weise lieber auf die endlosen Weiten der Literatur zurück, wie es auch Cervantes tat.
Mag nun all diese Quijotierung nur Blendwerk und Trug sein, sie lässt sich dennoch trefflich lesen. Und sie lässt eine tiefere Einsicht vermuten, die alles trägt und zugleich überdeckt: Es ist alles Spiel und meint nur etwas, weil der Mensch in seiner unendlichen Selbstautorenschaft es will. Nach Don Quijote ist kein Wort mehr ernst zu nehmen, doch erst das gibt dem Geschriebenen seine wahre Schönheit und Strahlkraft. Es gibt keine unerzählte Welt. Und der Text, der alles ausmacht, kann nur herrschen, weil er schwach ist und er kann nur ordnen, weil er frei ist. Frei wie ein lesender Landjunker, der sich selbst zum Helden macht, weil er seinen Namen und seine Geschichte nicht mehr bloß vorfindet, sondern wählt und dann hinausgeht, um zu sprechen. In diesem Sinne dürfen wir den Text nicht abgeben an das Maschinelle und dürfen den Raum nicht aufgeben, in dem das Rasierbecken der Helm des Mambrin werden kann. Viva la ficción!
I definitely agree with those who say the second half, which was originally written as a separate sequel, is better than the first. For me, the first half was two stars at best and I almost quit the novel entirely because of it, but the second half is vastly improved and ALMOST redeems the rest.
There are moments here and there of real humor that I genuinely enjoyed, mostly in the way that various characters choose to react to or deal with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, sometimes by equally irrational measures, but for the most part I was left frustrated by the negligence of it all. Don Quixote is far from a harmless eccentric. He causes physical and financial harm to nearly everyone he encounters, some severely so, and his treatment of his squire and animals is hardly better.
Maybe I’m just too serious a personality to enjoy satire taken so far, but I was so annoyed with the main characters shenanigans that I actually relished when in the second half he finally began to get worse than he gave and was sorely disappointed that he didn’t try to participate in a real tournament, if only to see him so thoroughly and publicly humiliated.
That said, I did really enjoy the self-insert character of Sanson Carrasco and the endless denouncements of the false Quixote writers of the time. Here Cervantes finally shows his strengths by switching to a more cohesive and pointed style of writing and I appreciated the way he used this character to bring his own creations and narrative to a decisive end.
There are moments here and there of real humor that I genuinely enjoyed, mostly in the way that various characters choose to react to or deal with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, sometimes by equally irrational measures, but for the most part I was left frustrated by the negligence of it all. Don Quixote is far from a harmless eccentric. He causes physical and financial harm to nearly everyone he encounters, some severely so, and his treatment of his squire and animals is hardly better.
Maybe I’m just too serious a personality to enjoy satire taken so far, but I was so annoyed with the main characters shenanigans that I actually relished when in the second half he finally began to get worse than he gave and was sorely disappointed that he didn’t try to participate in a real tournament, if only to see him so thoroughly and publicly humiliated.
That said, I did really enjoy the self-insert character of Sanson Carrasco and the endless denouncements of the false Quixote writers of the time. Here Cervantes finally shows his strengths by switching to a more cohesive and pointed style of writing and I appreciated the way he used this character to bring his own creations and narrative to a decisive end.
Não tava no momento de pegar um clássico grande, e tava ansiosa pra ler a ampulheta e Mistborn
It took me nearly two months but I finally finished book one. It was a frustrating, funny, exasperating, and ultimately rewarding read but I have no desire to move on to book two. I quit the book twice as I never truly connected with it but it stayed on my mind as I began to routinely see references to it. For that reason alone it was worth reading. I laughed out loud a few times in the process as well. It's not my favorite book by any stretch of the imagination but I am glad I read it, though I'm even happier I've finished it and I can move on. Maybe in 10 years or so I'll come back and read book two. That's how long Cervantes took to publish it so I figure I'll be okay if I don't move on to book two immediately.
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
First reading thoughts (17/7/2025)
As far as long novels I have read, this comes top of the pile. Grossman's translation in the Vintage publishing that I read was so full of life that even though this shared an episodic feel like that of Moby Dick with several tangents, I was always entertained. As Bloom outlines in the introduction, the tension between duty, death and bathetic treatment of Cervantes' surrounding literary canon is deftly constructed and I'm very excited to take a peek at the Yale course on this novel in order to better understand its allegorical significance as I feel like there is so much symbolism and parody that passed me by, including the actual MEANING of the novel itself to both the author and its contemporary audience of reception and the significance of the evolution of the eponymous protagonist and his companion.
I loved the slapstick to bits and honestly in terms of pure entertainment value and pacing felt that Part 1 had a bit more gusto to it compared with the more senior part 2 which felt more obsessed with philosophical quandury, episodic humour and dramatic irony as well as Cervantes' paranoid reclamation of Don Quijote as an intellectual property in the face of the release of the False Don Quijote.
Love the characterisation of Don Quijote and Sancho-> so vivid and believable (ironically) in their comedy that they feel almost like real peopel. The Duke and the Duchess were a laugh but honestly I found it hard to remember a great deal of the side characters excepting figures such as Sancho's family and the villagers as well as the converted muslim girl accompanying the Christian from the first part. There is an ever-rotating conveyor belt of beautiful women and extraordinary scenes, particularly in part 2, that I as a reader felt almost inundated with information that did not always strike as relevant. Despite part 1's pacing issues in Cervantes' diversions, I actually felt that its longer chapters made things feel more cohesive and lingering on singular characters and giving the universe and cast breathing room with an emphasis on recurrence made my reading more enjoyable.
Very glad/ proud to have finished this absolute tome. I hope one day my Spanish is strong enough to read it in Cervantes' original words as based on Grossman's footnotes there are many a pun and piece of wordplay that leaves a tier of humour unreachable for an English reader (as implied in the ironically accurate initial comments on translation's imperfection in the early chapters wherein the priest and Don Quijote's relatives scrutinise his collection of tales of Knight errantry).
So excite to understand this better and develop a better sense of Cervantes as an author and a man alongside his contemporaries such as the slated Lope de Vega (puppet scene wink wink).
As far as long novels I have read, this comes top of the pile. Grossman's translation in the Vintage publishing that I read was so full of life that even though this shared an episodic feel like that of Moby Dick with several tangents, I was always entertained. As Bloom outlines in the introduction, the tension between duty, death and bathetic treatment of Cervantes' surrounding literary canon is deftly constructed and I'm very excited to take a peek at the Yale course on this novel in order to better understand its allegorical significance as I feel like there is so much symbolism and parody that passed me by, including the actual MEANING of the novel itself to both the author and its contemporary audience of reception and the significance of the evolution of the eponymous protagonist and his companion.
I loved the slapstick to bits and honestly in terms of pure entertainment value and pacing felt that Part 1 had a bit more gusto to it compared with the more senior part 2 which felt more obsessed with philosophical quandury, episodic humour and dramatic irony as well as Cervantes' paranoid reclamation of Don Quijote as an intellectual property in the face of the release of the False Don Quijote.
Love the characterisation of Don Quijote and Sancho-> so vivid and believable (ironically) in their comedy that they feel almost like real peopel. The Duke and the Duchess were a laugh but honestly I found it hard to remember a great deal of the side characters excepting figures such as Sancho's family and the villagers as well as the converted muslim girl accompanying the Christian from the first part. There is an ever-rotating conveyor belt of beautiful women and extraordinary scenes, particularly in part 2, that I as a reader felt almost inundated with information that did not always strike as relevant. Despite part 1's pacing issues in Cervantes' diversions, I actually felt that its longer chapters made things feel more cohesive and lingering on singular characters and giving the universe and cast breathing room with an emphasis on recurrence made my reading more enjoyable.
Very glad/ proud to have finished this absolute tome. I hope one day my Spanish is strong enough to read it in Cervantes' original words as based on Grossman's footnotes there are many a pun and piece of wordplay that leaves a tier of humour unreachable for an English reader (as implied in the ironically accurate initial comments on translation's imperfection in the early chapters wherein the priest and Don Quijote's relatives scrutinise his collection of tales of Knight errantry).
So excite to understand this better and develop a better sense of Cervantes as an author and a man alongside his contemporaries such as the slated Lope de Vega (puppet scene wink wink).
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I didn't want this book to end. I love the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza so much, they are just as life-like as the people in our everyday lives are. Don Quixote begins with the joy of madness and ends with the tears of sanity. Even though I’m sad to have closed the book on them for now, I am comforted by the fact they live on my shelf and I can revisit Don Quixote and Sancho whenever I need. This book is therapeutic; you can turn to it for a laugh, for a reminder of how to act, for a reminder of how to cherish your relationships, it just gives so much life to anyone who gives it a chance.
Don Quixote starts the journey fully out of his mind, but through his interactions with others and the many adventures he attempts, his intelligence and honor shines like a beacon, completely overshadowing his madness. Sancho Panza learns, through both rote and trial-and-error, how to act like his master, including how to be courteous and empathize with others.
While Part I does get a little lost in its digressions, Part II is where the book really shines. As there was a ten year gap in real life between Part I and Part II, all the people that Don Quixote and Sancho meet in Part II have read Part I, meaning our heroes begin to realize they are trapped in their own book, giving this a very strange postmodern flavor. Part I contains many of the popular and famous moments forever captured in art and music (the battle against the windmills and the armies of sheep, for example), but Part II contains the stunning meditation of what Don Quixote found in the cave of Montesinos, as well as the lessons of virtue passed on from master to squire.
This book will have you guffawing with laughter on one page and then meditating quietly on your own actions and dreams the next. I think if everyone acted more like Don Quixote and Sancho, embracing the adventures of life, treating everyone as the best version of themselves, and always on a quest to improve our own selves, then we would all be happier people.
Don Quixote starts the journey fully out of his mind, but through his interactions with others and the many adventures he attempts, his intelligence and honor shines like a beacon, completely overshadowing his madness. Sancho Panza learns, through both rote and trial-and-error, how to act like his master, including how to be courteous and empathize with others.
While Part I does get a little lost in its digressions, Part II is where the book really shines. As there was a ten year gap in real life between Part I and Part II, all the people that Don Quixote and Sancho meet in Part II have read Part I, meaning our heroes begin to realize they are trapped in their own book, giving this a very strange postmodern flavor. Part I contains many of the popular and famous moments forever captured in art and music (the battle against the windmills and the armies of sheep, for example), but Part II contains the stunning meditation of what Don Quixote found in the cave of Montesinos, as well as the lessons of virtue passed on from master to squire.
This book will have you guffawing with laughter on one page and then meditating quietly on your own actions and dreams the next. I think if everyone acted more like Don Quixote and Sancho, embracing the adventures of life, treating everyone as the best version of themselves, and always on a quest to improve our own selves, then we would all be happier people.