11/19 Summary

Here is a brief summary of some of what we discussed at our 11/19 meeting about chapters 44-49 of Part 1 of Don Quixote.

I raised a question about whether the Priest, Barber, Dorotea, and others were walking a fine line between perpetuating and “helping” assuage Don Quixote’s madness. To me, it seemed they often undermined their own attempts to help him by perpetuating Don Quixote’s madness. In contrast, others pointed out that the Priest and Barber seem to buy into Don Quixote’s story only when Don Quixote is around, so as not to reveal to him their true intentions (see for example, p. 409 in chapter 47). This seems reasonable to me, but it also feels like to two steps backwards for each step forward. For example, here is the Priest confirming Don Quixote’s description of his plight to the Canon, who they have just met:

“Señor Don Quixote of La Mancha is telling the truth,” said the priest. “He is enchanted, borne in this cart not because of his faults and sins, but on account of the evil intentions of those who are angered by virtue and enraged by valor” (chapter 47, p. 409).

It just seems to me to be an ineffective strategy to always confirm with such vigor the very illusions the priest and barber say they are trying to treat in Don Quixote! But in some sense they are protecting Don Quixote. For example, as a group member pointed out, they save him from being arrested!

Sancho Panza remains loyal to his master, but is skeptical about the enchantment put on Don Quixote. After all, as conversations in chapters 48 and 49 relate, going to the bathroom--or “passing waters”--becomes a test of enchantment!

We continue to love Cervantes’ treatment of word and stories, whether implicit in his writing or explicit in discussions had between characters. During the great brawl at the inn, someone in our group notes, there were some extremely, extremely long sentences. I can’t help myself, I must reproduce some of these sentences here. I’ve inserted a paragraph break between them to accentuate the length of each one.

The innkeeper, who was a member [of the Holy Brotherhood], went in for his staff and sword and then stood by the side of his comrades; Don Luis’s servants surrounded him so that he could not escape during the disturbance; the second barber, seeing everything in a turmoil, seized his packsaddle again, and so did Sancho; Don Quixote drew his sword and charged the officers.

Don Luis shouted at his servants to leave him and go to the assistance of Don Quixote, and Cardenio and Don Fernando, who were fighting alongside Don Quixote.

The priest shouted, the innkeeper’s wife called out, her daughter cried, Maritornes wept, Dorotea was confused, Luscinda distraught, and Doña Clara in a swoon.

The barber beat Sancho; Sancho pounded the barber; Don Luis, when one of his servants dared seize him by the arm to keep him from leaving, punched him so hard his mouth was bathed in blood; the judge defended him; Don Fernando had one of the officers under his feet and was trampling him with great pleasure; the innkeeper cried out again, calling for help for the Holy Brotherhood: in short, the entire inn was filled with cries, shouts, yells, confusions, fears, assaults, misfortunes, attacks with knives, fists, sticks, feet, and the spilling of blood (chapter 49, p. 394).

Oh the chaos of the run-on sentence! It seemed to us that the sentence structure contributed to the action. There was a question about whether this was due to the translation or in the original Spanish. To the memory of those who are reading the Spanish, it is in the original. This passage may also be indicative of the trope of cataloging that appears in epic or heroic literature.

by Gustave Doré. Source: http://www.wikiart.org/en/gustave-dore/don-quixote-63

Many of us were interested in the figure of the Canon from Toledo and his discussions with the Priest and Don Quixote about literature. The Canon loves chivalric literature and is well read in it, though he confesses that the genre is tedious in its repetitiveness. Much of his conversation with the Priest centered on theatre (see chapter 48 especially). The Priest advocates for a review process for plays which seems somewhere between censorship and a rigorous peer review process (see chapter 48, p. 418). Even if the Priest does not give voice to Cervantes’ own views, Cervantes is serious about the quality of the literature of his day--his many quips at his rivals indicate that much.

What is the criteria for good art? The Canon and the priest often speak to what the uneducated masses find pleasure in--is this a sign of good art? The Canon’s description of how popular tastes dictate artistic productions seems reminiscent of how the mass media or Hollywood blockbusters operate in our current time. Money-making and good art are often contrasted in this conversation. Further, just as chivalric writers seemed to emasse great followings, so to do fantasy writers today--all we need to say is “Game of Thrones.”

The Priest defends technical rules for plays, interpretations of the unities of time, place, and action that were originally found in Aristotle’s poetics. And yet, someone in our group mentioned, if Cervantes is arguing in favor of technical rules, he’s arguing in favor of an illusion. No one really followed those technical rules in Cervantes’ time.

The Canon has written part of a chivalric novel himself, but has not completed the project. As part of his explanation for why he isn’t finishing his novel, the Canon remarks:

“I do not wish to subject myself to the confused judgment of the presumptuous mob, who tend to be the ones who read these books” (chapter 48, p. 414).

On behalf of the presumptuous mob that’s been reading part 1 of Don Quixote over the course of this semester, we would be delighted if you would join us in Library room 2007 on Thursday, December 3 (1:10-1:50 pm) for our final meeting of the semester. We will be discussing chapters 50-52 and a seven page essay by Tom Lathrop to help us transition to part 2. There will also be some goodies befitting of such a presumptuous mob!