Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

There are surely few books I remember so well like this great novel, called Don Quixote. Let me tell you from the beginning, it is not the kind of book you can finish in one weekend. It is nearly 1000 pages thick. So, what is all the fuss about? Don Quixote is the main character here, he has read so many books about white nights bringing justice to the world that he can no longer stand to stay idle in his room and sets to bring justice to the world. Sancho Pancha, a peasant lured to follow him by the promise of a castle, will be his companion. The book can be read in many ways. Surely it is nearly never boring and the dialogues ...

The ardent idealism of Cervantes’ celebrated hero has often been interpreted as madness, but is it necessarily less sane than pessimism and a fatalistic acceptance of the evils of society? In setting off on his quest to reintroduce the ideals of chivalry to the world, Don Quixote certainly appears slightly ludicrous. His devotion to his lady Dulcinea, whose imagined perfection is based on the memory of a peasant girl he has only met a couple of times, seems at best funny and at worst downright stupid. The dangers and hardships he encounters on his journey might provoke the response “Is it really worth it?” but it is difficult not to admire Don Quixote ...

* Concerning the famous hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha’s position, character and way of life; Don Quixote; a chivalrous, brave, strong, reliable, romantic hero. The problem? He also happens to be quite, unutterably mad. Now, being so unsound of mind, our hero allows himself to become so inflamed by the gross amount of chivalry/romance novels he devours that he gets it into his poor little head that it is upon his shoulders to save the old days of knights, adventures and epic romance. Being on the wrong side of fifty and having a bit of a mental, er, instability certainly doesn’t hold him back as he sets off from his small village on his first sally…and oh ...