Quixotic Obsession
While they were thus talking there appeared on the the road two friars of the order of St. Benedict ... and behind them came a coach attended by four or five persons on horseback and two muleteers on foot. In the coach there was ... a Biscay lady on her way to Seville, where her husband was about to take passage for the Indies with an appointment of high honor. The friars, though going the same road, were not in her company; but the moment Don Quixote perceived them he said to his squire, "Either I am mistaken, or this is going to be the most famous adventure that has ever been seen, for those black bodies we see there must be, and doubtless are, magicians who are carrying off some stolen princess in that coach, and with all my might I must undo this wrong."
"This will be worse than the windmills," said Sancho.
In 1605--400 years ago this year--the first printing of Don Quixote
came off the presses. In personal commemoration of this literary anniversary, I have been rereading Cervantes' masterpiece.
Question to ponder: With some stretching of the definition, might Don Quixote
be considered to be one of the world's first sci-fi novels? Discuss!
Here's a story about someone who is obsessed with the book, although he denies it.
UCLA Spanish professor Enrique Rodriguez-Cepeda's obsession lines his yard in a series of intricate tattoos -- more than 30 framed and painted tile-scapes hanging on the house, the vine-covered side wall along the driveway and both his and his neighbor's garages. ... [T]he pieces depict more or less the same thing: scenes from Miguel de Cervantes' novel, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.
There are images of Don Quixote on Rocinante, his loyal if sagging steed, and with Sancho Panza, his servant and tenuous connection with reality. In other scenes, Don Quixote glimpses his beloved if distant Dulcinea, and cropping up everywhere is the famous windmill, the giant at which Quixote so famously tilted his lance and barely escaped with his life -- one of literature's first pratfalls.
1,000-PLUS ITEMS
The tile-scapes are only part of Rodriguez-Cepeda's collection of more than 1,000 Don Quixote items, a collection that he argues does not constitute an obsession despite costing him more than $200,000 to build.
... [T]he cream of Rodriguez-Cepeda's crop is now on display through April 30 at the University of California, Los Angeles, as part of the 400th anniversary celebration of Don Quixote -- considered by many scholars to be the first modern novel ... .
Read the full story.
Want to read Don Quixote in the original Spanish? You can download a PDF version or read a text version online here.
Technorati Tags:
Cervantes, Don Quixote, Quixote, literature, classics, books, anniversaries, obsessions, collecting, collectors, memorabilia, Spanish literature, California, UCLA, art
"This will be worse than the windmills," said Sancho.
In 1605--400 years ago this year--the first printing of Don Quixote
came off the presses. In personal commemoration of this literary anniversary, I have been rereading Cervantes' masterpiece.Question to ponder: With some stretching of the definition, might Don Quixote
be considered to be one of the world's first sci-fi novels? Discuss!Here's a story about someone who is obsessed with the book, although he denies it.
UCLA Spanish professor Enrique Rodriguez-Cepeda's obsession lines his yard in a series of intricate tattoos -- more than 30 framed and painted tile-scapes hanging on the house, the vine-covered side wall along the driveway and both his and his neighbor's garages. ... [T]he pieces depict more or less the same thing: scenes from Miguel de Cervantes' novel, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.
There are images of Don Quixote on Rocinante, his loyal if sagging steed, and with Sancho Panza, his servant and tenuous connection with reality. In other scenes, Don Quixote glimpses his beloved if distant Dulcinea, and cropping up everywhere is the famous windmill, the giant at which Quixote so famously tilted his lance and barely escaped with his life -- one of literature's first pratfalls.
1,000-PLUS ITEMS
The tile-scapes are only part of Rodriguez-Cepeda's collection of more than 1,000 Don Quixote items, a collection that he argues does not constitute an obsession despite costing him more than $200,000 to build.
... [T]he cream of Rodriguez-Cepeda's crop is now on display through April 30 at the University of California, Los Angeles, as part of the 400th anniversary celebration of Don Quixote -- considered by many scholars to be the first modern novel ... .
Read the full story.
Want to read Don Quixote in the original Spanish? You can download a PDF version or read a text version online here.
Technorati Tags:
Cervantes, Don Quixote, Quixote, literature, classics, books, anniversaries, obsessions, collecting, collectors, memorabilia, Spanish literature, California, UCLA, art
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