Cervantes is my hero: I Heart Irony
So, I've been reminded that I haven't written anything here in a while. Partly that's because, as I said in one of my recent entries, I'm too busy living to spend time writing, but mostly it's because I've been spending all my time writing other stuff and reading. I've been dutifully trying to finish Don Quixote and I didn't want to write about it until I had, but I'm so enamored of Cervantes use of irony and meta fiction that I had to say something about it now.
Here's the quote that confirmed Cervantes as my hero. Cardenio says of Don Quixote, "I don't know whether anyone who tried to invent such a character in fiction would have the genius to achieve success."
Seriously? Does it get any funnier than that. If you guys haven't read any Cervantes you don't know what you're missing. I mean, genius, Cervantes does have, and he's not afraid to mention it off hand, just in case you hadn't notice after 300 or so pages.
A couple of years ago, before I went back to school, I decided there were certain books I had to read in order to consider myself an educated person....The Iliad, The Odyssey, Wuthering Heights, Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, The Canterbury Tales, The Old Man and the Sea, etc. The Odyssey is the only one I got through before going back to school and at the time I didn't think it such a problem because I sort of assumed that being back in school would expose me, as required reading, to these classic works of literature. Not so. I had a lot of required reading in school but almost none of it included any of the classic works of literature on my "must read" list.
However, in school, I met someone who re-inspired me to get back to my personal required reading list. This guy in one of my classes said he was reading Don Quixote and, over time it became clear that he had impeccable taste, so I asked him if it was any good. He, of course, said it was great, because he's no idiot (as I said his taste is impeccable). Any praise he gave it though couldn't compare to how great it really is. You just have to read it. And make sure to read all the foot notes.
Cervantes is hilarious and, even better, his humor is often very subtle. I'd write more about it now, but I want to get back to reading the book. Seriously though, read it, you won't be sorry.
Here's the quote that confirmed Cervantes as my hero. Cardenio says of Don Quixote, "I don't know whether anyone who tried to invent such a character in fiction would have the genius to achieve success."
Seriously? Does it get any funnier than that. If you guys haven't read any Cervantes you don't know what you're missing. I mean, genius, Cervantes does have, and he's not afraid to mention it off hand, just in case you hadn't notice after 300 or so pages.
A couple of years ago, before I went back to school, I decided there were certain books I had to read in order to consider myself an educated person....The Iliad, The Odyssey, Wuthering Heights, Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Crime and Punishment, The Canterbury Tales, The Old Man and the Sea, etc. The Odyssey is the only one I got through before going back to school and at the time I didn't think it such a problem because I sort of assumed that being back in school would expose me, as required reading, to these classic works of literature. Not so. I had a lot of required reading in school but almost none of it included any of the classic works of literature on my "must read" list.
However, in school, I met someone who re-inspired me to get back to my personal required reading list. This guy in one of my classes said he was reading Don Quixote and, over time it became clear that he had impeccable taste, so I asked him if it was any good. He, of course, said it was great, because he's no idiot (as I said his taste is impeccable). Any praise he gave it though couldn't compare to how great it really is. You just have to read it. And make sure to read all the foot notes.
Cervantes is hilarious and, even better, his humor is often very subtle. I'd write more about it now, but I want to get back to reading the book. Seriously though, read it, you won't be sorry.
posted by Beth at
3:48 AM
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