Good thing there's a whole musical for this. And I think an opera too.
April 18– From Don Quixote by Cervantes (1605) Translated by Thomas Shelton
Summary: Don Quixote sets out on his quest!
Commentary: It's kind of weird getting a chapter 1 after how many times I've gotten random bits from various books. I think this is the 3rd or 4th DQ, which makes it even odder.
Cervantes received the last rites today in 1616, though he'd hang on for a few more days.
DQ is always a good time. A swashbuckling satire of chivalry novels, it feels surprisingly modern.
An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income.
I had to look up what an olla is. Apparently it's a clay pot you can use for cooking or irrigation. Learning!
“the reason of the unreason with which my reason is afflicted so weakens my reason that with reason I murmur at your beauty;” or again, “the high heavens, that of your divinity divinely fortify you with the stars, render you deserving of the desert your greatness deserves.” Over conceits of this sort the poor gentleman lost his wits, and used to lie awake striving to understand them and worm the meaning out of them; what Aristotle himself could not have made out
Cervantes wastes no time in calling out bad writing.
In short, his wits being quite gone, he hit upon the strangest notion that ever madman in this world hit upon,
We're still in chapter 1 and he's already crazy. As I've discussed before, Cervante's complete frankness with DQ being completely batshit is the key to the whole novel. He's not coy about it, there's no "maybe he's not crazy and just the only one who sees this stuff" he's totally out of his mind, the book knows it, and you just roll with it as the reader.
Breathtaking
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