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Don Quixote

 

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  #1  
Old August 12, 2010, 10:41 PM
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Question Don Quixote

I've seen some "foreros" or forum members interested in the subject of this book... one of the "tomiest" tomes of all...
There is a social group maitained by rpgray, which is (as quoted from there)
For people reading Don Quijote (or any other work by Miquel de Cervantes) in the original Spanish.

Or anyone who wants to discuss a work by Cervantes. (Unquote)

The group only has two members now, and I tried to start a discussion about the intention and meaning of "Don Quixote".

You can give your views on that, and/or join the group...

You can also mention here (maybe) the funniest anecdotes you remember from the book...(an anecdote is a short account of a particular incident or event of an interesting or amusing nature...)

What do you think?
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  #2  
Old August 13, 2010, 09:08 AM
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I'll have to keep an eye on this thread. I recently downloaded an English version on my cell phone, though I haven't really gotten into it yet (still working through some paper-books that I'm in the middle of).

My Spanish probably isn't anywhere near good enough to get through a Spanish-language version; but I may attempt it at some later date. We watched one of the movie adaptations back in Spanish class in high school, but that's been . . . 12 or 13 years ago? So I don't remember too much.
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  #3  
Old August 13, 2010, 09:12 AM
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I saw the group and downloaded the Spanish and English versions on my phone. I am reading the English version now and it appears that Don Quixote may be schizophrenic. If it continues to be and the author is making fun of a schizophrenic man I will probably not like it.
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  #4  
Old August 13, 2010, 09:43 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris View Post
I am reading the English version now and it appears that Don Quixote may be schizophrenic.
I think that might be missing the point rather. The book is a parody of books on chivalry, so the main character is a complete fool. This is one problem I have with it - if you are not familiar with the previous literature, you won't appreciate the satire. In addition to that, I don't find it remotely funny. I find it tedious and pointless. I have a problem with that as well, because most 'experts' claim it is by far the best book of Spanish literature, so I'm obviously missing something. Either that or there is no literature worth reading, and I find that rather hard to believe.

Count me in on this thread, I want to find something which would revise my opinion.
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  #5  
Old August 13, 2010, 12:19 PM
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Well, it is very interesting to me to get your viewpoints on the matter. What is also interesting to me is the fact that Don Quixote is the "crazy guy", but as a matter of fact, (believe it or not) he is the ONLY guy in the whole novel who is actually SANE. Why do I say that?
Well, there are critics or readers that talk about how Don Quixote becomes more and more "sane" as the novel goes through and he goes from being in a delusory or delusive world into a "real" world. On the other hand the "practical" guy, Sancho Panza, evolves from being an earthly, worldly man, mundane and vulgar, into a guy 'crazied' by the "craziness" of his lord, Don Quixote...

Of course, one important barrier in reading Don Quixote, (particularly in its Spanish original) is the amount of unfamiliar words one has to look up in the dictionary... But if one gets to that and grasps the unbelievably witty allusions... well, it is fun reading.

@Perikles, did you read the Spanish version or an English translation?

As far as funny stories, there is one where both Don Quixote and Sancho are riding in the middle of the night, there is no light at all, pitch black... and as they are moving along, they start hearing some kind of pounding, both believe the pounding may be produced by an actual giant who is getting closer and closer... they keep going valiantly... with courage... Sancho expresses his fear, but he carries on with Don Quixote... (the whole thing is a crescendo of suspense... and fear and anxiety for both characters, and for the reader...) There is one point where the tension is so high, the fear so intense... then Don Quixote says, "Huele..., y no a ámbar" ("Smells... and it is not [the smell of] amber")... This is the subtle style Cervantes has to convey that Sancho is literally shitting himself... i.e., instead of saying Sancho was scared shitless, he says it in a way that is clearly implied... (When I was reading this for the first time I had to stop there and ROFL... such a release of tension...)
At any rate, the thing goes on, regardless... and they remain unmoving the whole night while hearing the incessant pounding until the sunrise reveals they are standing by a fulling machine by the river...
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  #6  
Old August 13, 2010, 12:48 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JPablo View Post
@Perikles, did you read the Spanish version or an English translation?...
I must be about a third of the way through the Spanish, using the English translation as a dictionary. I kept losing the will to live....
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Old August 13, 2010, 12:53 PM
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I've never thought of Don Quixote as being a work to "make fun of" or even make light of some "crazy guy" with some mental illness.

Rather to me, it's simply a man that wanted to be something more than he was, so he went out and became that. Was he 'crazy' and 'weird'? Yeah. But was he happy? Isn't that what counts?

If I wanted to get all highschool-lit, I'd say it's a symbolic tale of finding one's own path happiness regardless of what everyone else tells you to be and do.

. . . though I could also be missing the meaning of the story, as I admittedly don't remember how it ends.

(I just finished "Chapter 5" in the version I have, but that's out of 127 chapters split over two parts. So . . . there's quite a ways to go yet.)

((Oh, and I've been reading it today even though I said there were some other books I want to finish first because I'm at work, and have my cell phone on me, but not said other books))
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  #8  
Old August 13, 2010, 01:16 PM
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@Perikles... I hear you, man. Oh, boy. I believe you may be "hitting" some misunderstood word or words, "translated" in a way that may make sense in the English (if you follow in English...) Do you experience the phenomena of getting to the end of the page and not getting what was all about? (I.e., the page becomes a blank in your mind?) I dare to adventure that as a possibility... (words are treacherous many times... I mean, you know better than me...)

@Fazor. Well, if you have any questions, and/or if you read something fun to share, or whatever, I'll always be interested... I share part of your "interpretation" (re: happiness). To me one of the greatest values of the book is that every person can take the interpretation he/she wants to get. It is a piece of art (in my view) in that, like a kaleidoscope, it can be seen in many different ways, and from different slants... Don Quixote has an unbelievable ability to "create a reality" or "a new reality"... And that is something. The point is that one can create a higher reality, even if not in agreement with the rest of mortals... But that is what great writers do. They create an illusion of "truth" and when we get into stories, we "believe" them... even if we know they are 'fiction'. (That's why I like Pérez Reverte, A. Dumas, or Dan Brown... Herman Melville or L. Ron Hubbard, S. King or Asimov... Verne or 'even' Agatha Christie.) They 'postulate' new realities, new goals, higher levels of awareness... while you have fun reading them...

Note: When I first saw "Pulp Fiction" I thought it was a great movie, in terms of having a constructive message. Many people I know didn't like it because of the gratuitous/unwarranted violence. But to me, that was exactly the very point of the film. Planet Earth, state of current society and 'moral' values... Hello? Anybody home? Let's wake up!
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  #9  
Old August 13, 2010, 02:16 PM
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Well, I'm only on chapter 6 so I have quite a ways to go. It is interesting, and I think it's a book my son would enjoy so I may get it for him for Christmas. I should be done with it then lol.
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  #10  
Old August 13, 2010, 03:36 PM
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Yup, when I first read it, it took me a whole Christmas holidays (almost 3 weeks at a full-time basis) and then reading very little every day, until I got to Easter (8 or 10 days holidays, and then I finished it.) (I enjoyed better the second part of it... the first part had sections that were not that 'exciting' for me... but I'll be hitting it again.)

(Pérez Reverte wrote in one of his latest 'Patentes de Corso', a letter to young writer, Part I, that if one wants to be a writer, it is good to read a bunch of CLASSICs, and to read/study Don Quixote, sentence by sentence, enjoying every word and every concept... as you go...) (Well, I'll take the advice and get the best out of it... the advice and the reading.)
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