Don Quixote (3)

"Happy times, and happy age, in which
my famous exploits shall come to light!"

French lithograph by Tony Johannot, 1845.
(Library of Congress)

The following books will introduce you to Don Quixote, who said these words in Cervantes' Don Quixote (Charles Jarvis, Trans.). To order a book, or for more information, follow the book title links to Amazon.com, then return home to browse other characters.

Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote (Edith Grossman, Trans.). Harper Perennial, 2005.
- The latest translation to enter the fray, this attractive version has been very well received. Edith Grossman, one of the foremost translators from Spanish to English, explores translation as a literary art and defends its importance in her own book Why Translation Matters (Why X Matters Series) (Yale University Press, 2010).
Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de. Don Quixote de la Mancha (Charles Jarvis, Trans.; E. C. Riley, Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992; reissued 2008.
- This handy paperback in the World's Classics series features the venerable Jarvis translation updated for modern readers. Enjoy Don Quixote to the fullest in this unabridged text which is readable, portable, and delightful.

Riley, E. C. Don Quixote. London: Allen & Unwin, 1986.
- Best companion text for appreciating the novel in the context of its times. Illuminating comparison of Part I (published in 1605) and its sequel (Part II, 1615), tracing changes in the character.
Durán, Manuel. Cervantes. New York: Twayne, 1974.
- Shows how Cervantes' novel and his treatment of the character transformed prose fiction.
Auerbach, Erich. Mimesis (W. R. Trask, Trans.). Princeton University Press, 1953.
- This classic work on the changing face of realism in Western literature contains a wonderful chapter, "The Enchanted Dulcinea," on Don Quixote's and Sancho's mutual illusion-making.
Close, A. J. Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
- Another excellent commentary, especially the last chapter on the novel's influence.
Flores, Angel, and Benardete, M. J. (Eds.). Cervantes Across the Centuries. New York: Gordian Press, 1969.
- Collects articles on Don Quixote by distinguished commentators. Highlights include a surprising number of musical versions and the novel's' cross-cultural reception and influence.
Ortega y Gasset, José. Meditations on Quixote (E. Rugg & D. Marín, Trans.). Norton, 1983.
- Includes a comparison of the Don with Madame Bovary, another romantic whose life was refracted through the novels she read.
Turgenev, Ivan. Hamlet and Don Quixote (Robert Nichols, Trans.). Folcroft, 1972.
- This Russian novelist contrasts these two divergent character types in an incisive essay.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lectures on Don Quixote. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
- Not surprisingly, Nabokov's insights into this character are both original and opinionated.
Unamuno, Miguel de. The Life of Don Quixote and Sancho (Homer P. Earle, Trans.). Knopf, 1927.
- Unamuno's tour-de-force is somewhere between a commentary and a retelling of the novel from his own unique perspective.

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