Don Quixote

"Don Quixote looms so wonderfully above the skylines of literature, a gaunt giant on a lean nag, that the book lives and will live through his sheer vitality...The parody has become a paragon."-Vladimir Nabokov "A more profound and powerful work than this is not to be met with...The final and greatest utterance of the human mind."- Fyodor Dostoyevsky Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is regarded not only as the first modern novel, but also as one of the most important works of fiction ever produced. The subtle and hopeful irony, resplendent variety of characters and its thoroughly entertaining sense of adventure and friendship has dazzled readers for more than four hundred years. It was published in Spain in two volumes, first in 1605 then followed by the second in 1615. Cervantes' use of realism and everyday language in Don Quixote was revolutionary at the time, and its influence on the development of literature may only be surpassed by the work of Shakespeare. In the opening of this extraordinary book, Alonso Quijano, a noble living in sixteenth-century Spain, has become consumed with the act of reading, and subsequently assumes the identity of the chivalrous knights that he loves to read about. Transformed into Don Quixote, he embarks on his first ill-fated journey as a "knight". The defeated Quixote returns home, to only prepare himself better for the next adventure of delusion. On his second journey Quixote has enlisted the peasant Sancho Panza to appropriate the role of his squire. Although the duo is ridiculously mismatched in every sense, their inextricable bond is one of the most fascinating of friendships ever created on paper. Between their disordered adventures -of battling windmills and herds of sheep and endless mishaps- are the stories of those who are encountered on the journey. The book eventually becomes a hall of mirrors, and Cervantes explores preconceptions of narrative, reliability, and morality that are strikingly modern. Ultimately, Quixote's preposterous fantasies become haunting as the reader of this book will surely begin to question what is real and what is not. The story of Don Quixote has been adapted into numerous forms, including opera, musicals, ballets, music and film. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Don Quixote is both modern and readable.