Reading the Classics discussion

Discussion thread for Week 2 of the Don Quixote reboot. Let's keep it going, discussion was lively last week!

Don Quixote's mistaking the glittering barber's basin for Mambrino's helmet is funny. Poor guy. He sticks to his delusions so long. His vision of things around him is like a someone looking only at the abstract significance of something; like a man looking at a golden cup and recognising it's metaphorical nature of being a vessel, but not seeing what it is — a cup. He lives in a world of symbols. Don't we sometimes do this; not seeing what (or who) it really is, but instead placing too much importance on what the thing or person stands for?

Interesting thoughts, Darshana.

Darshana I 100% am of the belief that we all have a little bit of Quixote in us. There is a reason he has stood the test of time for 500 years while so many other characters of the same time period are lost to time. I know that I for one am guilty of thinking (or wanting to think) somebody or something is what I think it is only to be disappointed.

I also wanted to add in my two cents on translation. I myself started with and stuck with Edith Grossman. The modern translation has made the read very enjoyable for me. I know there is probably stuff lost in translation since the translation is so modern but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.

I think for Don Quixote it is a conscious choice to follow the script of kmight-errantry as he interprets it. The wash basin is a helmet, because that's what's needed for a knight. He views things as they need to be to fit the story he's inventing for himself. Kind of like when kids play make believe and use whatever is on hand as props. Even his foray into the Sierra Madras is him following script.

Sancho is a bit of a puzzle, because he clearly knows at times that his master is mad, but still believes he'll get his island. He hasn't seemed to extrapolate far enough to realize that if Don Quixote is making all this other stuff up, then everything promised is likely a sham as well. Poor Sancho.

It's fun how Cervantes puts Cardenio in the story as a real "tragic" figure with a real story of madness to play Don Quixote's mock madness off of.

Sorry, I meant Sierra Morena I'm my previous post but I can't get back to edit it.

Tina wrote “Sancho is a bit of a puzzle”.

I’ve been thinking about Sancho also, with ideas similar to your statements about him knowing that Don Quixote is more than a little mad.

It has seemed to me that Sancho is not quite the cuddly innocent that he is portrayed in the musical, “Man from La Mancha”. Sancho can be kind at times but also a little conniving as when he hobbled Don Quixote’s horse, when Don Quixote tries to ride off.

Sancho’s greed about the possibility of a kingdom seems to override his common sense.

I've also been thinking about Quixote's tendency toward fantasy vs Sancho's mostly-firm grounding in reality. I know no shortage of people in my real life who choose to see and believe what they want to see and believe, facts be damned. Quixote is mad: are my friends? It's a form of madness.

I don't necessarily see Sancho's ambition as greed: he wants a better life, and a bit of power, but in Sancho I think I see someone who would handle wealth more wisely than most.

Honestly, I think Cervantes has stood the test of time because there is something of Don Quixote and of Sancho Panza in all of us.

Tina wrote: "I think for Don Quixote it is a conscious choice to follow the script of kmight-errantry as he interprets it. The wash basin is a helmet, because that's what's needed for a knight. He views things ..."

I think Sancho believes he will get his island because he wants to believe it.

Brandon wrote: "I also wanted to add in my two cents on translation. I myself started with and stuck with Edith Grossman. The modern translation has made the read very enjoyable for me. I know there is probably st..."

I'm also reading the Grossman translation. I fiddled with 3 others before settling on Grossman. I do appreciate the earlier translations which better approximate the language of the day (much as I appreciate the First Folio editions of much of Shakespeare), but given that the original Quixote was obviously in Spanish, I choose modern English for this one. I honestly don't think much is lost.

One last note on this section: Sancho carefully insults Quixote on a number of occasions in ways Quixote never quite gets, but this is my favorite:

"I say that your grace is correct in everything," responded Sancho, "and that I am an ass. But I don't know why my mouth says ass, when you shouldn't mention rope in the hanged man's house. But let's have the letter, and I'll say goodbye and be on my way."

Simply brilliant.