Don Quixote
After two years, I finally finished the audiobook on 2022-10-20. I need to add some thoughts, and finally read up on it.
Apparently
and were contemporaries.Whose greatest work was written first:
or ?[!NOTE] Chat-GPT Which story was written first, Hamlet or Don Quixote?
Hamlet was written first. The earliest known version of the play was written by William Shakespeare around 1599-1601, while Don Quixote was written by Miguel de Cervantes and published in two parts in 1605 and 1615. Thus, Hamlet predates Don Quixote by several years.
[!NOTE] Chat-GPT Why should someone read Don Quixote?
Someone should read Don Quixote because it is a timeless and entertaining work of literature. The novel is rich in humor and adventure, and it offers unique and compelling perspective on the world. It also explores deep It and universal themes, such as the nature of reality and the human experience. Additionally, Don Quixote is a classic work that has a had a profound influence on Western culture, and reading it can provide insights into the history and development of the novel as a literary form. Overall, reading Don Quixote is a rewarding and enriching experience that offers something for readers of all backgrounds and interests.
Wiki
Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. Considered a founding work of Western literature, it is often labelled as the first modern novel and one of the greatest works ever written. Don Quixote is also one of the most-translated books in the world and one of the best-selling novels of all time.
The plot revolves around the adventures of a member of the lowest nobility, an hidalgo from La Mancha named Alonso Quijano, who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his mind and decides to become a knight-errant (caballero andante) to revive chivalry and serve his nation, under the name Don Quixote de la Mancha. He recruits as his squire a simple farm labourer, Sancho Panza, who brings a unique, earthy wit to Don Quixote's lofty rhetoric. In the first part of the book, Don Quixote does not see the world for what it is and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story meant for the annals of all time. However, as Salvador de Madariaga pointed out in his Guía del lector del Quijote (1972 [1926]), referring to "the Sanchification of Don Quixote and the Quixotization of Sancho", as "Sancho's spirit ascends from reality to illusion, Don Quixote's declines from illusion to reality".The book had a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844), and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), as well as the word quixotic. Mark Twain referred to the book as having "swept the world's admiration for the mediaeval chivalry-silliness out of existence".