Reading 1001 discussion

here's some items to promote thoughts.

2. Papini suggests that generations of critics have idolized Quixote, held him up as a "martyr of pure, militant, and derided Christianity," when in fact the character is vain and proud, thinks only of earthly glory, and aspires to material conquests. He was not, Papini claims, mad at all, but merely pretended to be. What is your opinion of this argument?

3. Not only was the code of chivalry a real code that helped to hold a real civilization together, but these are real virtues, and would be if chivalry had never existed." Do you think the book repudiates chivalry?

4. . In his 1935 book Don Quixote: An Introduction to Psychology, leading Spanish literary expert Salvador de Madariaga refers to what he calls the "sanchification" of Don Quixote and the "quixotification" of Sancho. How does each character affect the other?

5. What is the purpose of "names" in the book? What did you notice about "names".

6. Many readers have been disturbed by the fact that Don Quixote recovers his sanity before dying, instead of venturing forth again, as Sancho would have him do. How do you feel about his regaining his sanity? What do you think is the significance of it?

2) I found Don Quixote to be largely humble while reflecting the strong Catholic Christian values of his day. However, he did believe in earthly glory but not only for his own good but to right the wrongs of the world. These wrongs were earthly wrongs, i.e. women wronged by duplicitous men, men left by fickle women and lovers not allowed to be together because of family class issues. I did find myself believing that he believed in knight errant activities because he wished to and not because of out and out madness. However, he also had to believe in enchantment and spells because it was the only thing that made everything that happened to him make sense in his imagined world.

3) I do not think the book repudiates chivalry although it does mock it often enough. There is nevertheless within all the mockery a real sense that some core of this belief is valuable to the world. The tales that Cervantes drew upon were ones that were needed to be passed down to future generations because they illuminated some of the best of human interaction, courage in the face of mortal challenges, love undimmed by practical issues, lords and ladies who believed in something other than greed and territory. One of the reasons the book is so great is because it walks a fine line between the satirical and the romantic. You believe that Don Quixote believes in chivalry because he is a good man and a deluded man, a wise man and a fool. If the book was too much one way or the other it would not be as great as it is.

4) All the characters in the book tend to change their behavior when Don Quixote is around. Often it is only to set up elaborate jokes and plays on his naiveté for their own amusement but nevertheless they are often moved to charitable activities and thoughts simply because he believes. Sancho does slowly come to live in a coarser but nevertheless similar arrangement between what is best for Sancho and what is best for other people including his master and his wife and children. When called upon to make wise decisions, for example when he has his governorship, he is able to. He is also quite cowardly but can rise to the occasion when needed to and can demonstrate true kindness (though rarely true courage). Also Sancho's wisdom is a simple peasant like wisdom which he seems to have collected from his master. His master will often string proverbs together, a Sancho trait, but Don Quixote does it with more educated insights.

5) Names take on new meaning as they come to represent the true character of the person or the imagined character of the person as seen through Don Quixote's knight errant beliefs. The book plays a great deal with the vernacular and all its idioms and proverbs so naming falls in line with that word play often. Right from the start, Don Quixote names himself as a knight from La Mancha. In the end you learn his real name. Rocinate, Don Quixote's poor double starts as a skinny, past his prime work horse (Rocin) and gets promoted to greatness with the "ate" suffix. Rocinate becomes the best of a lowly work horse. By the way, I had to look this up as my Spanish is not very good. While the donkey is seen as even more simple rather than being promoted he is simply called "grey". The character Dulcinea is a totally fictional name that Don Quixote makes up, along with her beauty and virtue.

6) I was left with the feeling that Don Quixote did not suddenly become sane at the end but rather he simply realized he was dying and that he had to be seen as sane to have his will upheld. This interpretation does play into some reviewer beliefs that Don Quixote was not completely mad but playing a part. I think that Cervantes needed to leave us with both equally possible interpretations in order to close the chapter on his knight. If he went out again as a shepherd, other writers may have continued to tell tales of the knight's exploits and Cervantes wanted the tale to end with him.

I gave it 5 stars.

2. I kept comparing Don Quixote's delusions about chivalry and in particular his bending the rules of logic to fit his obsession to people with beliefs today whose rationalisations seem absurd to someone not involved. As for being a martyr to militant and derided Christianity, I did think that his obsession mirrored that of some religious stalwarts who currently ignore reality in the pursuit of an idealised world. I thought that Don Quixote was brave, or more exactly fullhardy, in the pursuit of his ideal, but I thought he was aspirational and selfless in his quest. I did not see hiim as being materialistic at all. He wanted fame, to be sure, and was thrilled when he was tricked into thinking he was lauded not mocked, but he did not want material possessions.
3. Don Quixote's quest was to encourage others in the virtuous life. The exemplar of the chivalric code was a knight who was brave in battle, devoted to service to others and righting wrongs that he saw in society, and in a chaste devotion to an idealised lady. He was a horseman, who had a war horse and heavy armour, neither of which, of course, Don Quixote possessed. So Rocinante, a skinny nag who could not go faster than a trot, and Don Quixote with a barber's basin as a half helmet, are figures to be mocked. However, Don Quixote's steadfastness in his mistaken decisions to protect the weak and rush in to situations with no heed to personal safety are admirable qualities. In making him a figure of fun, but in also reminding us of the gallantry of the era of chivalry, Cervantes neither mocks outright nor holds up chivalry as a exemplary way of life.
4. Sancho Panza becomes more thoughtful, less involved with his own comfort and more and more devoted to Quixote, while the Don begins to doubt his beliefs when Sancho explains his errors of judgement.
5. Knights take on titles which describe their feats or origin, or costume: so Don Quixote de la Mancha, comes from a lesser known and less productive area of Spain; his fictitious lady love he names Dulcinea del Toboso, which is an allusion to illusion, apparently. Other titles are the Knight of the Mirrors, who later became the Knight of the White Moon when he was in a different disguise. There is also the Knight of the Green Coat. Don Quixote is the Knight of the Sorrowful Face, and then later, the Knight who Fought Lions. (I forget the exact title).
6. I really disliked the last episode where Quixote and Panza were kidnapped and taken back to the Duke's place where a cruel trick was played on them. This was so traumatic to Quixote, followed by his being beaten by the Knight of the White Moon that on his return home he lost the will to continue as Don Quixote and reverted to Alonso Quixano the Good, a name that we don't know until the end. He actually says "let us put all jokes aside.... for at critical times like these a man cannot play games with his soul". My verdict: he knew all along tha he was just playing a role.

Congratulations on finishing. Will you finish Water Margins also? Did you enjoy Don Quixote (other than the last chapter/trickery)? I did much more than I thought I would.

Yes, I really did enjoy it. I think the Goodman translation was very helpful in explaining puns and literary allusions, as well as being in modern English. Not sure about the Water Margin. I have 40 chapters to go, but if I dont finish it tonight I probaby never will!

I read this several years ago and really enjoyed it. It was a surprisingly fun read. It was too long of a book and too soon in time to reread it this year, but I wouldn't mind re-reading it someday in the future.