Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes is widely regarded as a vital cornerstone of literature. Written in Spanish and published in two parts, the first printed in 1605 and the second in 1617, the book has subsequently been translated into English numerous times, most recently by the critically acclaimed Edith Grossman.
The book is felt to be the first example of a novel in its modern form, and some believe it is such a masterpiece that it has yet to be bettered. Thomas Mann says “What a unique monument is this book! How its creative genius, critical, free and human, soars above its age!”, The Daily Telegraph said “It is impossible not to approve of this book in every respect.”, and the Guardian states it has “energy and clarity and the rhythm of the telling is compelling.”
And me? I’m on page 129 and my eyes are starting to bleed.
It’s not that the language is especially difficult or archaic, quite the contrary in fact, Grossman’s translation is mercifully free of thee and thous. It’s just that the story keeps repeating itself over and over again with only slight variations. Here comes the deluded Don Quixote who thinks he is a knight errant of old misjudges a situation, tries to apply chivalric principles, and gets seven shades of crap beaten out him by the local peasants. And repeat.
Apparently the second half of the book gets more symbolic and satirical. But as the thing that it is being satirical about is 17th century Spanish culture I’m not completely sure I can be arsed sticking with it.
I bought the book on a whim, sucked in by its placement on the three for the price of two table at Borders. I was feeling very worthy at the time and so also have a history of the philosophy of happiness and a booker prize winning novel staring accusingly at me from my bookshelf. Meanwhile I keep sneaking off and re-reading my PG Wodehouse books behind their backs.
I’m not a book snob. I believe we live in a postmodern age where the latest Dan Brown has the same cultural value as the new Salman Rushdie. I would rather read a book I enjoyed than one I could show off about. But sometimes I listen to all the clever people on Radio Four and want to have just a bit of their knowledge.
There was recently a poll of what books people in the UK have started and failed to finish. There were some obvious ones in their, but also some unexpected. A chap at the Guardian used the poll as a springboard to blog far more eloquently than me about his own struggles with Don Quixote, but I promise this blog entry was conceived before I’d read his account. I mention it only in the interests of full disclosure.
If you are interested here is the list. Are there any books on your own shelves that have defeated you?
1. Vernon God Little, DBC Pierre

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling

3. Ulysses, James Joyce
4. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres

5. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

6. The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie

7. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

8. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

9. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

10. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
on Mar 13th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
I picked up Don Quixote after working on Man of La Mancha. I think I got to about page 15. I’ve also been done in by Ulysses and Crime and Punishment. A couple others by Dickens too. Another one for me is Pride and Prejudice. I was supposed to read it in high school and couldn’t even manage my way through a summary of the book.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Greg and I are both English literature majors, so I suppose we could have long lists, if we hadn’t blocked out the remembered pain long ago.
I do need to brag about the fact that I slogged all the way through Ulysses. I didn’t understand what was remotely going on at least a third of the time, but I read almost all of the words in sequence.
And then I wrote a paper on it, and because I got almost all As in my English classes, I must have made some kind of sense. Since that was (gasp!) 20 years ago now, I have absolutely no clue what I wrote, and only the most vague of ideas of what the book is about.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 3:44 am
here’s my list. just can’t seem to get past the first chapter or so…
“Yellow River” by I.P. Freely
“Brown Spots On the Wall” by Hu Flung Poo
“Under the Grandstands” by Seymore Butts
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Heh.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 10:00 am
Defeated? More like kicked the crap out of me. I think I’m going to go a little off topic here but your post reminded me of something.
Once we had a couple over and one of the pair is a librarian. We were in our basement when I noticed them looking at the collection of books we have down there. I saw them smirk at each other. At first it bothered me then I thought our cache of books probably does deserve a smirk. They recognized my “books as decoration” habit. These days I keep acquiring the things but I never actually get through them.
When I was younger I took this quote seriously, “If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads but what he rereads.” Don’t know who said it - but it made me hold on to every book I read more for display purposes than because I loved it and hoped to read it again. The truth is, most of the books I put on my shelf weren’t treasures to be revisited, they were more a matter of, “Well, I got through that one.” These days, I don’t even try. I have good intentions but I’ve pretty much forgotten about that reading list of classics we all have buried in the back of our heads. The one that we’ve been told everyone else has completed by the time they’re my age. The books that supposedly moved readers to see the world with different, far more enriched eyes than those of us too lazy or too stupid to bother.
So once again I hate you, Dan. This time it’s because you’re willing to give Don Quixote a try and I’m too lazy and too stupid to bother.
I like TV:
http://www.g4tv.com/ninjawarrior/index.html
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Lord of The Rings - I love and have read more than once The Hobbit but LOTR completely defeated me. Life is just too short for that many dwarves.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Yup. Lord of the rings. To be contentious, it’s dull, over long, badly written and incredibly dated.
An example: We must hold the ford at Osgiliath against all costs and we will talk about this for 400 pages about how important and exciting it’s going to be.
“And thusly the knights did ride out to Osgiliath and did fight and lose a battle and had to ride back home again.”
Brilliant. Ooh, ooh, quick, there’s some more landscapes I can describe in brain aching detail instead.
Pity, because the world itself is great. Still, the films are brilliant.
I could go into more detail about the vast amount of books I’ve not managed to finish but to be honest the list is enormous. I’ll either be on a roll and steam through four or five boks in a row or i’ll be completely uninspired and start, and fail two or three until the next roll comes along.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I haven’t seen the films as I found the prospect of gnawing off my own leg more appealing. Pandy Pops (my o/h) really enjoyed them though.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
‘Les Miserables’, by Victor Hugo. I’m still trying, though!
I’m happy to take ‘Don Quixote’ off your hands. The Grossman version is very popular, and has a long waiting list at our library. I had it for two weeks, but had to return it. What? I’m cheap. We’re traveling to Spain this summer, and I’m this close to buying it.
I didn’t think I’d enjoy ‘Don Quixote’ as much as I did. Cervantes has a fabulous sense of humor!
(p.s. Send Tesco’s red-label. Our supply is dwindling.)
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Paul and Morticia - I’ve read all of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, only on the fourth attempt though. Tom-bloody-Bombadil finished me off on the first two attempts, the third time I just couldn’t wade through the council of Rivendel bit. the fourth time I just skipped these bits and was much the happier for it.
The films are right up there in my all time favorite movies lists. Having read the books around the same time I saw them it was very interesting hearing the odd line you recognized or the occasional deviation from the plot of the original. As for: I haven’t seen the films as I found the prospect of gnawing off my own leg more appealing. - I pour scorn in your general direction. you’ll say you didn’t like Star Wars next.
Anyway, there are hardly any Dwarves in Lord of the Rings.
Greg - We had a policy of holding onto all our books for a long while, until we had no more room in our home for another shelf. We ended up giving 75% of them away and haven’t missed them a bit. We still have a few that are unlikely to be re-read, and a fair few that are waiting to even be opened.
Recently blogging has taken over from reading for me, it occupies the same hour or so slot before I go to sleep. I keep meaning to make more time for reading though.
Jared - If you think Cervantes has a fabulous sense of humor than I advise you never to go near a PG Wodehouse novel or you may have an aneurysm.
You are more than welcome to have my Don Quixote once I’ve finished
with it, but I haven’t given up yet - I’m just floundering. I even read four pages last night. At that rate I don’t think I’ll be done by the time you go to Spain though.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
I can’t get through Moby Dick for the life of me. And I try to finish A Brief History of Time every 10 years or so to no avail. Hmmm. It’s about that time again actually…
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
Thanks for your brief history of your brief history with a brief history of time.
…
I really should go to bed now.
on Mar 14th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Moby Dick - probably my favourite book of all time! Read it about four times, been fascinated since I was 13 and stumbled across it in the school library. And sorry, I loved Don Quixote, every page! There’s three books on that list I haven’t read, one of which I have no intention of ever starting, another of which I’m too much of a snob to pick up and the last of which - well, Mills & Boon with Germans and Lugers is still Mills & Boon… Did I mention I was a snob when it comes to books? (And no, one of the three ISN’T Harry Potter…)
on Mar 15th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I can cope with the first Star Wars film that was released (I am aware that it isn’t the first film as such, but my mind is too full of other important stuff/nonsense to remember what place it takes in the whole series) but thats mostly because I have a thing for Peter Cushing and I like the bit where the robots are arguing in the desert as it reminds me of two of my best friends who argue just like that and have a similar height difference.
The other films mostly left me cold - I did go and see the first of the more recently released ones and I almost lost the will to live as I was that bored. Pandy Pops is a huge Star Wars fan and even he found it boring and he refused to go and see any of the others as he didn’t want to sully the place Star Wars has in his heart.