Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (electric book reader TXT) π

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Don Quixote is a novel that doesnβt need much introduction. Not only is it widely considered the greatest Spanish literary work of all time, one of the greatest literary works in history, and a cornerstone of the Western literary canon, itβs also considered one of the firstβif not the firstβmodern novels.
This Standard Ebooks edition is believed to be the first ebook edition of Don Quixote to feature a full transcription of translator John Ormsbyβs nearly 1,000 footnotes. Ormsby as an annotator deftly explains obscure passages, gives background on the life and times of 1600s Spain, references decisions from other contemporary translators, and doesnβt hold back from sharing his views on the geniusβand flawsβof Cervantesβ greatest work.
The story is of the eponymous Don Quixote, a country noble who, in his old age, reads too many chivalric romances and goes mad. After convincing his grubby servant, Sancho Panza, to join him as his squire, he embarks on an absurd and comic quest to do good and right wrongs.
Today Don Quixoteβs two volumes are published as a single work, but their publication came ten years apart. Cervantes saw great success with the publication of his first volume, and appeared to have little desire to write a second volume until a different author wrote a spurious, inferior sequel. This kicked Cervantes into gear and he wrote volume two, a more serious and philosophical volume than the largely comic first volume.
Despite being written in 1605 and translated in 1885, Don Quixote contains a surprising amount of slapstick laughsβeven for the modern readerβand narrative devices still seen in todayβs fiction, including meta-narratives, frame narratives, and metafiction. Many scenes (like Quixoteβs attack on the windmills) and characters (like Sancho Panza and Lothario) are so famous that theyβre ingrained in our collective culture.
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- Author: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
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βThat I will do with all my heart, master,β replied Sancho, βprovided your worship will not be vexed at what I say, as you wish me to say it out in all its nakedness, without putting any more clothes on it than it came to my knowledge in.β
βI will not be vexed at all,β returned Don Quixote; βthou mayest speak freely, Sancho, and without any beating about the bush.β
βWell then,β said he, βfirst of all, I have to tell you that the common people consider your worship a mighty great madman, and me no less a fool. The hidalgos say that, not keeping within the bounds of your quality of gentleman, you have assumed the βDon,β452 and made a knight of yourself at a jump, with four vine-stocks and a couple of acres of land, and never a shirt to your back.453 The caballeros say they do not want to have hidalgos setting up in opposition to them, particularly squire hidalgos who polish their own shoes and darn their black stockings with green silk.β
βThat,β said Don Quixote, βdoes not apply to me, for I always go well dressed and never patched; ragged I may be, but ragged more from the wear and tear of arms than of time.β454
βAs to your worshipβs valour, courtesy, accomplishments, and task, there is a variety of opinions. Some say, βmad but droll;β others, βvaliant but unlucky;β others, βcourteous but meddling,β and then they go into such a number of things that they donβt leave a whole bone either in your worship or in myself.β
βRecollect, Sancho,β said Don Quixote, βthat wherever virtue exists in an eminent degree it is persecuted. Few or none of the famous men that have lived escaped being calumniated by malice. Julius Caesar, the boldest, wisest, and bravest of captains, was charged with being ambitious, and not particularly cleanly in his dress, or pure in his morals. Of Alexander, whose deeds won him the name of Great, they say that he was somewhat of a drunkard. Of Hercules, him of the many labours, it is said that he was lewd and luxurious. Of Don Galaor, the brother of AmadΓs of Gaul, it was whispered that he was over quarrelsome, and of his brother that he was lachrymose. So that, O Sancho, amongst all these calumnies against good men, mine may be let pass, since they are no more than thou hast said.β
βThatβs just where it is, body of my father!β
βIs there more, then?β asked Don Quixote.
βThereβs the tail to be skinned yet,β455 said Sancho; βall so far is cakes and fancy bread;456 but if your worship wants to know all about the calumnies they bring against you, I will fetch you one this instant who can tell you the whole of them without missing an atom; for last night the son of Bartholomew Carrasco, who has been studying at Salamanca, came home after having been made a bachelor, and when I went to welcome him, he told me that your worshipβs history is already abroad in books, with the title of βThe Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha;β and he says they mention me in it by my own name of Sancho Panza, and the lady Dulcinea del Toboso too, and diverse things that happened to us when we were alone; so that I crossed myself in my wonder how the historian who wrote them down could have known them.β
βI promise thee, Sancho,β said Don Quixote, βthe author of our history will be some sage enchanter; for to such nothing that they choose to write about is hidden.β
βWhat!β said Sancho, βa sage and an enchanter! Why, the bachelor Samson Carrasco (that is the name of him I spoke of) says the author of the history is called Cide Hamete Berengena.β
βThat is a Moorish name,β said Don Quixote.
βMay be so,β replied Sancho; βfor I have heard say that the Moors are mostly great lovers of berengenas.β457
βThou must have mistaken the surname of this βCideββ βwhich means in Arabic βLordββ βSancho,β observed Don Quixote.
βVery likely,β replied Sancho, βbut if your worship wishes me to fetch the bachelor I will go for him in a twinkling.β
βThou wilt do me a great pleasure, my friend,β said Don Quixote, βfor what thou hast told me has amazed me, and I shall not eat a morsel that will agree with me until I have heard all about it.β
βThen I am off for him,β said Sancho; and leaving his master he went in quest of the bachelor, with whom he returned in a short time, and, all three together, they had a very droll colloquy.
IIIOf the laughable conversation that passed between Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, and the bachelor Samson Carrasco.
Don Quixote remained very deep in thought, waiting for the bachelor Carrasco, from whom he was to hear how he himself had been put into
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