Don Quixote

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

I would be interested to know which books somebody would read if they were Spanish speaking, and reading for a degree in Spanish literature.

BTW You try to help me and all I do is criticize your English, and it is not intentional. But synonym in the above context is not correct because it must always refer to one specific word (or infinitive). For example to aid is a synonym for to help. It is absolutely clear what you mean, and I think you could say

A bad bookstore is not synonymous with poor literature, although it is an indication of a poor culture.

Thank you for the correction, I had never thought about the difference between "synonym" and "synonymous". It's clear now.

About the interest on a professional selection of Spanish literature, I need to talk to some academics so I can come back with suggestions and/or syllabi.

[JPablo]

Bueno, aquí hay una orientación muy general,
http://www.uned.es/fac-filg-hisp/

[Perikles]

Thanks for the pointer - looks like good place to start.

[JPablo]

You're welcome...

(One of the most famous Spanish "literary disputes" with many funny turns along the line was between Quevedo and Góngora... both incredibly talented writers, but hating each other's their guts no end...)

[Perikles]

Luego imaginó don Quijote que aquél era el dueño del cojín y de la maleta, y propuso en sí de buscalle, aunque supiese andar un año por aquellas montañas hasta hallarle

I'm making some progress here - I found some entertaining passages, and even some future subjunctives.

In the above, I suppose that buscalle is an elision (sinalefa?) of buscar + le. If so, why then hallarle?

[JPablo]

Not totally sure, but my first guess is to avoid cacophony.
I.e., the "alle" is the archaic usage form of the enclitic, as you correctly note. Following the same pattern it would be "hallalle" which, with the repetition of "ll" it would become hard on the speaker. A synonym, "encontralle" would "regularly" be in place here. But given that "hallar" is the most common way to say "to find" in those days...

This reminds me the typical "defendella y no enmendalla" expression pretty widely used in current Spanish... particularly in political registers... when a politician blunders badly, but then "defends" his/her position "a capa y espada" [fights tooth and nail to defend his/her own error].

I'll do a bit of search to confirm my above guess... (I'd bet on an 80% probability my guess is correct... but if I am wrong, I am the first to recognize it and eat my words... even if they are already in the cybernetic domain...)

NOTE: "Sinalefa" is something else, syn·a·loe·pha, n. the blending of two successive vowels into one, esp. the coalescence of a vowel at the end of one word with a vowel at the beginning of the next.
Also, syna·leapha, syn·a·le·phe.
[1530–40; < NL < Gk synaloiph£, synaliph£, equiv. to syn- SYN- + aloiph-, aliph- (var. stems of aleiphein to smear) + -" fem. n. suffix]
(You may have a better derivation... for a change! )

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Perikles: I know this is not what you asked for, but Antonio Alatorre is an erudite and a brilliant expositor. His book, Los 1,001 Años de la Lengua Española, edited by the Fondo de Cultura Económica is a great trip through the richness of Spanish language.
I'll send a PM later with something more related to what you wanted to avoid a longer off-topic here.

[Perikles]

Thanks both.

[Perikles]

I've now got to DQ 1 chapter XXIV, Caballero de la Sierra. This nut case starts telling his woeful tale of love, but breaks off in the middle and runs off. I find nowhere where this tale continues.

My question is: What is the Point ???????

[JPablo]

If I remember well... (I read the full thing 27 years ago... although I will be checking these things... as we go...) the whole 'woeful tale of love' is said again at one point, in full...

I remember some idea of "interpersing" a couple of "novelas pastoriles" in the first part of Don Quixote, as a way to "entertain" the reader... and as a "suspense" factor... a the same time, creating a parallel... with our crazy hero... So, yes... I understand your your reaction to this "silly thing". (I actually prefer the second part of Don Quixote, when there is not other things in between the main story.) But this seems like one "literary resource" of a story inside a story... much like in the film Inception there are dreams inside dreams... (I haven't seen the film yet... but per what I got told... it tends to be quite a mind-f...)