There's a class that's gonna teach the book, but I want to know whether I'm interested in the book before I debate taking it.
Posts: 1934 | Registered: Jun 2001
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It's about this insane guy who fights windmills with a trusty sidekick named Sancho Panza. Plus he's in love with this girl who he thinks is also in love with him - he could not be more wrong! And he has some pretty interesting hallucinations.
Set in 16th century Spain if memory recall is operating at above normal efficiency.
Side note: I loved it. Not everyone does. YMMV.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Don Quixote is the tale of a man who becomes fixated on stories about "knights errant" (good pun, that). He goes from spending all his time reading about such things to believe that he IS one. He convinces the somewhat less addled, but inherently simple-minded Sancho Panca as his squire. Together they go riding off in search of adventure. The Don is wont to misinterpret the world around him in terms of his master-delusion (that he is a knight errant) with hilarious consequences.
The entire story is set in a time AFTER the disappearance of knights in armor. So, this guy, traveling around in rusty armor, with a stolen barber's bowl on his head as a helm, becomes famous.
The word spreads of his misadventures, in part because Cervantes' book becomes popular -- he actually becomes self-referential in the 2nd half of the book (it's really two books). At this point, people actually start to take advantage of the knight's delusion, primarily for their own amusement.
Sancho often bears the brunt of the jokes or the consequences of his master's misdeeds (property destruction, robbery, etc.) by being beaten to a pulp or turned into an unwitting puppet. He spouts slightly "off" aphorisms much to the annoyance of the Don.
The book definitely rewards patience. It's not an easy read, although perhaps it is better in the original Spanish idiom. The story becomes very engaging though and it gets better as a story as the pages progress. It's a bit flat and uncertain in the beginning, but then I think Cervantes figured out what he was going to turn it into and had a clear enough plan by the time he got to the 2nd book.
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