The DePaul Humanities Center launches its Making the Novel Novel Series on October 21 with a multidisciplinary celebration of, and investigation into, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Considered the first novel ever, Cervantes’ epic work, known colloquially as simply Don Quixote, was completed four hundred years ago. Four hundred years’ worth of readers have stepped into the narrative landscape, windmills and all, and followed the passionate-yet-delusional title character and his sidekick, Sancho Panza, as they chase a chivalrous ideal to rid the world of injustice. The DePaul Humanities Center event will feature lectures and performances by a group of presenters who will approach and unwrap the novel and its themes from such diverse angles as dance, philosophy and history. In addition, an original sculpture by Jamie Hannigan was commissioned for the event, and will be on display before it makes its permanent home in the DePaul Humanities Center.
Is the title character an inspiration, or simply insane? Are we laughing with him or at him when he attacks a windmill he believes to be a dangerous giant? Has perception of the work changed over the last four hundred years? To help you explore these questions and many others along with the DePaul Humanities Center, the DePaul University Library would like to highlight just a few of the many resources available to aid your journey through La Mancha. Bonified cervantistas and first-time Cervantes readers welcome!
The Novel Itself
To begin with, the DePaul University Library has over 30 editions of the novel. Whether you would rather read the book in English or Spanish, in print or in electronic format, abridged or annotated, the DePaul University Library has got you covered.
Critical Explorations
Cervantes, Literature, and the Discourse of Politics by Anthony J. Cascardi
Cascardi explores the theme of politics in Don Quixote, and how the context of 17th century Spanish politics might have influenced Cervantes’ literary style.
Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction by Carroll B. Johnson
Johnson provides historical, cultural, and literary context for understanding the enduring power of the novel.
Cervantes and the Pictorial Imagination: A Study on the Power of Images and Images of Power in Works by Cervantes by Ana María G. Laguna
Laguna considers Cervantes in the context of the aesthetic fervor of the Rennaisance, reflecting on the author’s use of visual images to convey ideas of the political, the theological and the beautiful.
El Quijote en América edited by Friedhelm Schmidt-Welle and Ingrid Simson
This Spanish-language book brings together essays from scholars in Europe and the Americas to examine how Don Quixote has been received in Latin America. How do Latin American readers interpret the book differently than Spanish readers, and how do four hundred years of Latin American history give context to the work?
Law and History in Cervantes’ Don Quixote by Susan Byrne
Byrne examines how Cervantes took the heavy intellectual considerations of his time and infused them into a new literary form– the modern novel.
Journal Insights
Cervantes : Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America
This journal publishes scholarly articles and book reviews in both Spanish and English. Print volumes from 2005 to present are available in the John T. Richardson Library, and electronic issues from 2001 to present can be accessed through Literature Resource Center. Explore topics such as “Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Don Quixote” by Maria Eugenia Perojo Arronte, or “El cervantismo espanol desde el neoclasicismo al romanticismo: Sobre una edicion romantica del Quijote” by Diego Martinez Torron.
Database Resources
Read criticism, biographical information, reference materials, and annotated versions of Cervantes’ works in Literature Online.
Examine Cervantes’ work in historical, biographical, and literary contexts through the Gale Contextual Encyclopedia of World Literature.
Find out what a “picaresque novel” is, or what it means to be “quixotic” in The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.
Artists Respond
Cervantes’ provocative work has influenced and inspired writers, composers, and artists for hundreds of years. Here are a few examples:
Man of La Mancha directed by Arthur Hiller
This 1972 film is an adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh, which imagines Cervantes himself telling the story of Don Quixote to fellow prisoners while awaiting a ruling from the Spanish Inquisition. This version stars Peter O’Toole as Don Quixote/Miguel de Cervantes and Sophia Loren as Dulcinea/Aldonza. Available in dvd at the John T. Richardson Library.
The Female Quixote, or, The Adventures of Arabella by Charlotte Lenox
Lenox published this, her second novel, in 1752. It features a young woman named Arabella who attempts to fill her life with the adventure and romance that fill the pages of the novels she devours. Arabella’s journey is both an imitation of, and a satirical comment on, the fantasy-driven quest of Don Quixote.
“Don Quixote, Op. 35” by Richard Strauss
Strauss’ orchestral homage to Don Quixote was first performed in Cologne, Germany in 1898. Subtitled “Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters” (“Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character”), the piece uses cello to represent the title character; viola, tuba and clarinet to represent Sancho Panza; and fluttering brass to represent the bleating sheep they encounter on their adventures. A CD recording is available at the John T. Richardson Library.
Happy 400th birthday, Don Quixote! Here’s to another 400 years of readers.
Making the Novel Novel: Don Quixote is on Wednesday, October 21 from 7:00-9:00pm.
DePaul Student Center, Room 120
2250 N. Sheffield Avenue, Chicago
Free and open to the public.
Full details and directions available here.