My Weekly Book

Don Quixote – Book 2 by Miguel de Cervantes

*Contains spoilers*

God, what a slog. As I keep saying, it’s not that I’ve disliked the book or regretted reading it – very entertaining, and a great feeling of achievement. I would definitely recommend that other people consider reading it – book one, at least (if not the Exemplary Stories which are short and easy). It’s just so dense and unremitting that there are times when you simply feel as if you will never reach the end.

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Having done so, I can’t feel like I enjoyed part two nearly as much as part one. The first book describes Quixote’s attempts, in the face of all rational proof to the contrary, to live his ideals. And, by doing so, he makes the world a different and (by his own terms) better place. Because of his determination that the ideal of knightly chivalry should exist in the world, it does. In the second book the people he meets on the road know all about him (having read book one, you see, there was quite a gap between the publication of the two halves). And they play along for their own amusement or diversion – but, in essence, they are making fun of the Don for being a madman and all the innocence has gone out of it. It’s too knowing and contrived. Apparently there’s considerable scholarly debate over whether Cervantes was truly responsible for this second volume but I will have to leave it to wiser readers than me to divine. And, tragically enough, when Quixote is finally disabused of the notion that he is a knight-errant, following a defeat contrived supposedly for his own good, he returns to his village and dies of grief, surely an apt metaphor for the fact we all need dreams, ideals and silly notions in our lives, never mind their benefits for humanity as a whole?

Having said that there’s plenty of amusing scenes and diversions for the reader. The adventures remain readable and captivating and we’re introduced to plenty of colourful characters – not least the Duke and Duchess that go to such extraordinary lengths to play along with the Don. The character of Sancho Panza also gets some good development and he proves himself, on finally having achieved the governorship he coveted, to have a very wise head on his peasant shoulders. One of the features I particularly enjoyed about the first book was the interpolated stories – here they seemed to by of much lesser importance, almost perfunctory in places. Maybe Cervantes should have let the story be after the first volume – but who can blame him for cashing in on his unexpected success story, or seeking to protect Quixote’s legacy by making sure his hero was dead and buried and not susceptible to resurrection by imitators?

Some links:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4254511.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote

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And here endeth the 50 Book Challenge :- ))

This entry was posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 10:19 pm and is filed under 2006 reading challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.