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Miguel
de Cervantes Saavedra (15471616)
Vida y hechos del ingenioso caballero
Don Quixote de la Mancha 1771
Courtesy of the Biblioteca Nacional. Madrid
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Cervantes'
Don Quixote
1771
Miguel
Cervantes de Saavedra is Spain's best known literary
figure, and his creation, Don Quixote, is also
world famous. Don Quixote, the elderly nobleman
confused by reading too many chivalric romances,
sets out on his old horse Rosinante, with the
down-to-earth Sancho Panza as his companion, to
'defend the oppressed and to right wrongs'. Intended
as a satire on the medieval chivalric romances
which had so misled Don Quixote, the novel's realistic
representation of characters and events contrasts
with Don Quixote's inability to distinguish between
reality and illusion. At the same time, the author
demonstrates that the real world itself is complex
and ambiguous.
Don
Quixote was published in two parts: the first
appeared in 1605, and was an instant triumph.
The European novel literary form was said to have
begun with Don Quixote. The name 'Quixote'
was used in the first edition, but thereafter
the name was usually spelt 'Quijote'. The form
'Quixote' has persisted in the English-speaking
world, however, and has entered the language in
the term 'quixotic', which the Oxford English
Dictionary defines as 'striving with lofty
enthusiasm for visionary ideals'.
The
novel was reprinted five times within a year of
its publication, and Cervantes published the second
part in 1615. It has since been translated into
over 60 languages, and many versions of the story
have been created: plays, ballet, opera, musical
and film.
The
late eighteenth-century renaissance of the Spanish
graphic arts was amply demonstrated in this edition,
with its magnificent typefaces, excellent paper
and impeccable printing. Unfortunately the text
and illustrations were not of such high quality.
Despite its faults, however, the publication was
a serious attempt to produce a finely printed
edition of the best known work of Spain's most
famous literary figure.
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