novels, comets, movies
October 20, 2020 A few notes on cosmology in "Don Quixote", but I'll let Sancho have the last word. In Vol. I, ch. 20, Burton Raffel's translation speaks of “the fearful sound of that water we have come searching for, which seems to smash down and hurl itself from the lofty mountains of the Moon”. … Continue reading Sancho Panza, cosmologist
October 19, 2020 Last night sat down with my wife Dess to watch “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” I have no desire to see any of the straight retellings of the novel, because none of them appear to be very good. This one is not a straight retelling; I think of it actually as … Continue reading The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
October 18, 2020 There’s a 1979 animated version of “Don Quixote,” parts of which I showed the kids yesterday, translating for them as we watched. They actually liked it, despite the pace, which is glacial compared to anything today. But it felt just right, just like the book. And in Spanish, in the clips uploaded … Continue reading El Quijote, animated
October 17, 2020 I’ve finished Mark van Doren’s slim volume, “Don Quixote’s Profession.” Someday I must read “Don Quixote” again with van Doren’s idea that DQ was acting, and with Nabokov’s idea that DQ had many victories. These were not things that I appreciated in my own reading. The idea that DQ was acting barely … Continue reading Don Quixote’s Profession
October 16, 2020 Now here’s a review of “Don Quixote” that seems to get the spirit of the book, taking it seriously without being serious. Showed it to the kids and Dess last night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVkzxDJo9-Y
October 15, 2020 Vladimir Nabokov is a crank, in his “Lectures On Don Quixote.” He’s practically lost me with his declaration that the character of Sancho Panza is just a “generalized clown” and that he’s not funny. Again, I wonder if the problem is with the edition that Nabokov read, but he certainly read the … Continue reading Nabokov’s Don Quixote
October 14, 2020 In the 1885 edition of "Don Quixote" there is this, in the introduction (penned presumably by Ormsby): But it would be idle to deny that the ingredient which, more than its humour, or its wisdom, or the fertility of invention or knowledge of human nature it displays, has insured its success with … Continue reading Cervantes’ pulp fiction
October 14, 2020 As is well-known, after Cervantes published what is known today as Volume 1 of "Don Quixote," a man writing under the pen-name of Avellaneda de Tordesillas wrote his own sequel to Cervantes' novel, upon which Cervantes promptly finished his own sequel, which today is known as Volume 2 of "Don Quixote." Cervantes … Continue reading Cervantes had a troll
October 13, 2020 Don Quijote calls St. Paul “a knight errant in life, and a barefoot saint in death” (Vol. II, ch. 58), which shows again that his idea of knight errantry is about virtue, service, and faith. Near the end of the novel Don Quijote shows himself to be a linguist, with his explanation … Continue reading Finishing Don Quixote
October 11, 2020 Our knight and squire are clearly “in a book.” In Vol. II, ch. 33, Sancho says of an adventure from near the start of Vol. II: “it isn’t in the book yet”. My kids love to exclaim, “I am Don Quijote,” while doing a pretend-attack, mimicking the title character from “The Man … Continue reading 109 chapters into Don Quixote