4/7 Summary

Most of our discussions this week focused on geography and history.

We’ve been following Don Quixote and Sancho through many adventures. But where did they actually go? We began by look at maps from an early edition that traced Don Quixote and Sancho’s travels.

I also found a map on the Shelf Actualization blog, which takes the two most “accurate” maps of Don Quixote’s travels and “zooms out” to provide a look at the duo’s journeys against the backdrop of Spain as a whole. Worth checking out!

Source: Shelf Actualization Blog. <http://www.shelfactualization.com/2013/03/mapping-don-quixote.html>

In chapter 54, Sancho and Don Quixote meet Sancho’s neighbor Ricote, who is a Morisco. Sancho’s neighbor shares a name with the Ricote Valley, a region that resisted the expulsion of converted Muslims. In the 1650s, a few decades after Don Quixote is published, 40,000 Moriscos lived in the area. According to Robert Goodwin in Spain, Don Quixote is one of the best literary depictions of the expulsion.

We did find it interesting that when Ricote is reunited with his daughter, she seems to distance herself from her Morsico heritage (see chapter 63, p. 879). She identifies as a Christian, and this an ethnic point, not just a religious one.

In chapter 60, Don Quixote and Sancho come across a bandit, Rosque, who seems to have some Robin Hood-esque qualities. This figure has a historical counterpart, Roca Guinarda. Rosque probably seemed a little like Robin Hood because he didn’t care to terrorize peasants. Bandits were more like warring nobles who are in decline and fight with other nobles (like Capulets versus Montagues).

Our final discussions turn to the plot and, as usual, translation and publishing. In terms of the plot, we are worried about Don Quixote! Is he failing as a knight because he is physically weak? Is his decline correlated to his failure to eat and sustain himself (see chapter 59, p. 842).

With respect to translation, we follow Don Quixote’s conversations with a book translator. Don Quixote is a bit skeptical about translations:

“It seems to me that translating from one language to another, unless it is from Greek and Latin, the queens of all languages, is like looking at Flemish tapestries from the wrong side, for although the figures are visible, they are overed by threads that obscure them, and cannot be seen with the smoothness and color of the right side.” (chapter 57, p. 873)

What is the status of translation? Not only are we reading (well, most of us) Don Quixote in translation, the novel itself was supposed to have been translated. We were also interested in options for book printing. Though printing made books more accessible, we didn’t have the publishing giant houses we have today. The translator has paid to have his own translation printed.

Our final meeting is Thursday April 21! We hope you can join us as we celebrate finishing the novel.