The novel Don Quixote, written in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, is widely considered to be one of the greatest fictional works in the entire canon of Western literature. At once farcical and deeply philosophical, Cervantes' novel and its characters have become integrated into the cultures of the Western Hemisphere, influencing language and modern thought while inspiring art and artists such as Richard Strauss and Pablo Picasso. Based on Professor Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria's popular open course at Yale University, this essential guide to the enduring Spanish classic facilitates a close reading of Don Quixote in the artistic and historical context of renaissance and baroque Spain while exploring why Cervantes' masterwork is still widely read and relevant today. Gonzalez Echevarria addresses the novel's major themes and demonstrates how the story of an aging, deluded would-be knight-errant embodies that most modern of predicaments: the individual's dissatisfaction with the world in which he lives, and his struggle to make that world mesh with his desires.

About the Author
Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria is Sterling Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature at Yale University. In 2011 he received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama. He lives in Northford, CT.

Reviews
"The analysis is sharp, and the points of reference are consistently engaging . . . the syntheses, range of inquiry, and knowledge of the period are impressive."-Choice * Choice *



Book Information
ISBN 9780300198645
Author Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria
Format Paperback
Page Count 384
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
Weight(grams) 476g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 156mm * 22mm