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| "Fine day for ridin'" |
Published originally in two volumes (released in 1605 and 1615 respectively), TIHDQOLM (or DQ to be even lazier) was written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, a Spanish jack of all trades, who had almost as colourful a life as his eponymous hero. Born a stone's throw away from Madrid, Cervantes was an author, a poet and a playwright, but spent much of his working life on the seven seas as a naval infantryman, seeing action in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. It was a career that would inform much of DQ; notably his time spent as a prisoner of war in Algiers inspiring a number of the adventures found in Cervantes's magnum opus.
DQ is widely heralded as the first "modern novel", with Cervantes's work preempting themes more commonly explored in works from the 19th and 20th centuries. This is made all the more remarkable given how successfully Cervantes espouses these hyper-modern explorations with the picaresco style in which the novel is structured (picaresco= old time stories about a ragmuffin-type hero). It makes for an effective bridging of the old and the new, and a real watershed moment in the history of literature.
Synopsis time: Part one-Alonso Quijano is a retired country gent who becomes rather taken with the tales of chivalry tucked away in his library. He is in fact, so intoxicated, that he decides that he is to become a knight-errant, travelling about the country upon his steed to uphold the tenets of the Chivalric Code by vanquishing villainous foes, righting heinous wrongs and protecting the honour of his potential paramour, the winsome Dulcinea del Toboso. This would make for an excellent plan, were it not for 16th century society being wholly unlike the books Quijano has read (now knighted as the far more cavalier sounding Don Quixote). In actuality, DQ is thick in the throes of a delusional episode; the Chivalric Code he so stoically adheres to is a meaningless relic; his trusted mount, Rocinante, a clapped out nag, and his inamorata naught but a simple peasant girl. To compound the tragedy, not everyone takes too kindly to DQ's chivalrous capers, with his first foray into adventure ending in a severe beating at the hands of some narked off merchants.
Undeterred, DQ surreptitiously sets off on another sally (much to the displeasure of his book burning family and friends), with the new found assistance of squire Sancho Panza, a buffoonish peasant who, for the future governorship of an isle, endures his master's lunacy. Together, the two embark on an amusing folie a deux, cutting a swathe through some windmills mistaken for giants, giving a group of friars the treatment, and once again falling foul of those less than enthused by DQ's efforts.
Along the way, DQ's tale knits into the stories of those he encounters. We learn of Grisostomo, the student-turned-shepherd who dies seeking the unrequited love of the shepherdess, Marcela; the freshly freed slave, Gines de Pasamonte; and the four entangled and estranged lovers, Cardenio, Dorotea, Luscinda and Don Fernando. On very rare occasions, DQ's actions turn out to be rather helpful; in the last case, his meddlesome doings actually serve to reunite the sweethearts.
Part Two begins back at casa del Quijano with DQ mystified that, upon his squire's showing, Dulcinea has indeed become a peasant. In order to protect his investment, Panza claims that DQ's darling has in fact, been transmogrified from her previous state of comeliness by a wicked sorcerer- something that a DQ still in search of adventure is only too happy to accept. The dream team seek to find a cure of Dulcinea's woes, eventually happening upon a Duke and Duchess who are familiar with DQ's knightly travails. Aware of Panza's fib, they claim the spell can be lifted only if Sancho whips his bare behind over three thousand times (massively hoisted by your own petard there, SP). Furthermore, in the name of jape, they orchestrate a number of false trials for DQ to complete that test his bravery and his love for Dulcinea, and even grant Panza the governorship he so desperately craves (which although ultimately doomed, SP doesn't make a total hash of). Finally, the two hit the road again, where a friend of DQ's savagely brings the knight's story to a halt by masquerading as a chivalric rival and giving our poor old hero a beat down. Ailing and disillusioned, DQ returns home to recant his previous life and sadly succumbs to a fever, the world of knight-errantry dying with him.
Yeah, it's a bloody long book.
Q&A
So why read it? As cliched as it sounds, TIHDQOLM really has something for every one. You can find tragedy, comedy, romance, fantasy, mystery (and all that comes in between) within the 1000 or so pages, and such is Cervantes's skill that not one genre is poorly executed. For the hardcore bookworm, a greater pull comes from how TIHDQOLM will impact upon you as a reader; it serves as a such an effective template for modern literature that it will inform the way in which you read books thereafter.
How long will it take me to read it? Probably a while. True to the composition of the book, I elected to read it in two parts over the space of a year. And I must stress that this is not because I lost the book.
How can I use it in conversation? Particularly handy in a conversation where weird post-modern buzzwords are being thrown about willy-nilly. Try intertexuality (the interpretation or reading of one text through another) and meta-literature (an exhibited awareness of the story as being a story) for size.
Give me something good to say about it: "What is perhaps most disquieting about Quixote is that, despite the aberrant nature of his beliefs, intentions and desires, his manufacturing of fiction as a legitimate replacement for the real is something with which we are all intimately familiar."
If I like this I should read: "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" by Jorge Luis Borges is really good, ostensibly rewriting the novel without changing a single word. Meta squared, man.
Best quotation? "For me alone Don Quixote was born and I for him. His was the power of action, mine of writing."
Is it like anything more familiar? Hmm, it's a bit like The X Factor when someone who is convinced they can sing but in reality is awful, appears in front of the judges and public. It's both tragic and hilarious, right?
If this was a movie what would the tagline be? Your knight is about to get a whole lot crazier. (Note: There have been a number of film adaptations, including a made-for-TV movie starring John Lithgow and Bob Hoskins).
Who would star in it? In the 2012 buddy comedy reboot; Jim Carrey as DQ, Zach Galifianakis as SP and a truckload of CGI.
Any good? Yes, very.
FINAL SCORES
Entertainment- 8 Rollickingly good fun and incredibly readable to boot.
Sex Factor (out of 10)- 4 Some nice patches of romance here and there, but it's no Mills and Boon.
Blood type- A+, as in "A positive-ly intriguing take on violence, exploring the humiliation that comes with both physical and psychological cruelty".
S***s and Giggles- 8 Remarkably funny, with chuckles ranging from the most brazen slapstick to the subtlest of ironies. Docked a couple because it didn't make me LOL.
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