NP: Don Quixote

[Ghetta Life]

>From: jbor <jbor at bigpond.com>
>
>I think Don Quixote, the character, is tedious when he speaks and tells his 
>versions of stories, and that Cervantes has deliberately made him so.

>it is both a parody, of many of those earlier courtly romances it 
>references, and a satire, not only of DQ himself, but also of the society 
>he journeys through as well as those he hears about.

I agree with this.  His long speeches can be both pompous and insightful.  
He is the madman who can skate across all boundaries without really causing 
a stir because nobody expects him to be anything but looney.  And in this 
context he can be quite daring.  For instance he rightly (and wrongly) frees 
the galley slaves with the perspective that it is inherently wrong to 
subject fellow humans to such bondage.  Of course his generosity toward the 
slaves rewarded with their turning around and robbing and beating him.  And 
in another related instance he directly challenges the authority and 
sanctity of the Holy Brotherhood, a challenge that nobody in their right 
mind would expect to survive.

As for Nabakov's insight into the cruelty displayed in DQ, wasn't it Freud 
who first (maybe not first) commented on cruelty being inherent to humor?  
We laugh at the misfortunes of others.  DQ is definitely full of slapstick, 
but it’s a stretch to call that cruel.


Ghetta

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