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A review by jpegben
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
5.0
I will not make this a long review - although as I say that it probably will be - nor will I even attempt to write it in a formal style as with previous goodreads reviews. Even attempting to interpret this book is a daunting task. Its sheer breath and depth leads me to think one may require 10 or more separate reviews which interrogate its multiplicities and various narrative resonances to even come close. As Harold Bloom perceptively noted, the book acts as a mirror to the reader because the various interpretations of it do not resemble one and other.
Above all though, Don Quixote is a remarkable story and remains the single greatest treatment of the relationship between fiction and narratives on the hand and reality on the other ever conceived. Don Quixote and Sancho allow fictions to shape their perception of reality, but in doing so transform their reality into fiction. Sancho is acutely aware of this; in his own words, he knows "that I and my master are playing a role". Tragically, Don Quixote is not.
This central conceit operates on so many levels. It is at once both timeless and profoundly modern. The principles of Knight Errantry which consume Don Quixote are themselves a totalising belief system. A set of ideological precepts through which the world is refracted that both infuse his life with meaning, providing him with a guiding orientation and bringing about his destruction. Don Quixote's well-intentioned and unyielding commitment to destroying injustice is a tragic tale we are doomed to repeat. One in which inflicting our intentions on others, and even the notion of good intentions themselves, have unintended consequences and those who "wander the world righting wrongs and rectifying injuries" usually do more harm than good.
Yet, his descent into madness, which can very plausibly be characterised as the visionary attempt to achieve greatness and immortality, possesses real nobility. Don Quixote seeks to bend reality to his will and in doing so achieve lasting fame. Cervantes dissects the very notion of greatness itself. This seems, at least to me, to be the object of the Sorrowful Knight's quest. And Cervantes, it seems, posits that greatness itself, that desire to transcend, to be remembered, to be something more, is absurd, but it is nonetheless worthwhile and profoundly human.
And Don Quixote IS great because he takes the reader along for the ride. He believes so strongly in his reality that he wills it into existence. We come to believe it too. We want him to pursue it. The more self-referential and playful Cervantes becomes, the more real his characters begin to seem. By the end of the book it is no longer clear where belief ends and reality begins. Cervantes makes Quixotes out of all of us: fantasists who are no longer sure about the ground on which we stand.
Finally, it is impossible, after reading this book, not to comment on characterisation. Don Quixote and Sancho represent different ways of being in the world. The contrast between Sancho's grounded, pragmatic skepticism and Don Quixote's lofty, high-minded nobility/egotism lies at the core of everything. Their affectionate, ironic, and ultimately harmonious relationship, in its totality, is a probing examination of human nature and how we relate to those we value. These characters will live rent-free in my mind forever because they are more than dramatic personae. But it is in Sancho, and particularly Don Quixote's description of him as he is dying, where I think the core of this all may lie. Don Quixote says of Sancho that "he doubts everything and he believes everything". Sancho, it seems to me, is not only each and every reader of Don Quixote, but that thing which exists inside so many of us, that constant struggle between believing in something and questioning its value and veracity, which remains a defining feature of the human experience. To be human is to be Sancho, to want, desperately, to believe in things and people we love, but to know, all too often, that they are fatally flawed or misguided.
I will refrain from commenting at any length on style, structure, narrative techniques and so on because they are utterly brilliant and there's a reason which this book is considered the first modern novel.
Ironically, given what I said at the start of this review, what I have written may well tell you more about my character than it does Don Quixote and that alone is what makes this book one of the greatest artistic achievements there is.
Above all though, Don Quixote is a remarkable story and remains the single greatest treatment of the relationship between fiction and narratives on the hand and reality on the other ever conceived. Don Quixote and Sancho allow fictions to shape their perception of reality, but in doing so transform their reality into fiction. Sancho is acutely aware of this; in his own words, he knows "that I and my master are playing a role". Tragically, Don Quixote is not.
This central conceit operates on so many levels. It is at once both timeless and profoundly modern. The principles of Knight Errantry which consume Don Quixote are themselves a totalising belief system. A set of ideological precepts through which the world is refracted that both infuse his life with meaning, providing him with a guiding orientation and bringing about his destruction. Don Quixote's well-intentioned and unyielding commitment to destroying injustice is a tragic tale we are doomed to repeat. One in which inflicting our intentions on others, and even the notion of good intentions themselves, have unintended consequences and those who "wander the world righting wrongs and rectifying injuries" usually do more harm than good.
Yet, his descent into madness, which can very plausibly be characterised as the visionary attempt to achieve greatness and immortality, possesses real nobility. Don Quixote seeks to bend reality to his will and in doing so achieve lasting fame. Cervantes dissects the very notion of greatness itself. This seems, at least to me, to be the object of the Sorrowful Knight's quest. And Cervantes, it seems, posits that greatness itself, that desire to transcend, to be remembered, to be something more, is absurd, but it is nonetheless worthwhile and profoundly human.
And Don Quixote IS great because he takes the reader along for the ride. He believes so strongly in his reality that he wills it into existence. We come to believe it too. We want him to pursue it. The more self-referential and playful Cervantes becomes, the more real his characters begin to seem. By the end of the book it is no longer clear where belief ends and reality begins. Cervantes makes Quixotes out of all of us: fantasists who are no longer sure about the ground on which we stand.
Finally, it is impossible, after reading this book, not to comment on characterisation. Don Quixote and Sancho represent different ways of being in the world. The contrast between Sancho's grounded, pragmatic skepticism and Don Quixote's lofty, high-minded nobility/egotism lies at the core of everything. Their affectionate, ironic, and ultimately harmonious relationship, in its totality, is a probing examination of human nature and how we relate to those we value. These characters will live rent-free in my mind forever because they are more than dramatic personae. But it is in Sancho, and particularly Don Quixote's description of him as he is dying, where I think the core of this all may lie. Don Quixote says of Sancho that "he doubts everything and he believes everything". Sancho, it seems to me, is not only each and every reader of Don Quixote, but that thing which exists inside so many of us, that constant struggle between believing in something and questioning its value and veracity, which remains a defining feature of the human experience. To be human is to be Sancho, to want, desperately, to believe in things and people we love, but to know, all too often, that they are fatally flawed or misguided.
I will refrain from commenting at any length on style, structure, narrative techniques and so on because they are utterly brilliant and there's a reason which this book is considered the first modern novel.
Ironically, given what I said at the start of this review, what I have written may well tell you more about my character than it does Don Quixote and that alone is what makes this book one of the greatest artistic achievements there is.