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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βWell then,β said Sancho, βthat dish of roast partridges there that seems so savoury will not do me any harm.β
To this the physician replied, βOf those my lord the governor shall not eat so long as I live.β
βWhy so?β said Sancho.
βBecause,β replied the doctor, βour master Hippocrates, the polestar and beacon of medicine, says in one of his aphorisms βomnis saturatio mala, perdicis autem pessima,β which means βall repletion is bad, but that of partridge is the worst of all.βββ
βIn that case,β said Sancho, βlet seΓ±or doctor see among the dishes that are on the table what will do me most good and least harm, and let me eat it, without tapping it with his stick; for by the life of the governor, and so may God suffer me to enjoy it, but Iβm dying of hunger; and in spite of the doctor and all he may say, to deny me food is the way to take my life instead of prolonging it.β
βYour worship is right, seΓ±or governor,β said the physician; βand therefore your worship, I consider, should not eat of those stewed rabbits there, because it is a furry kind of food;825 if that veal were not roasted and served with pickles, you might try it; but it is out of the question.β
βThat big dish that is smoking farther off,β said Sancho, βseems to me to be an olla podrida,826 and out of the diversity of things in such ollas, I canβt fail to light upon something tasty and good for me.β
βAbsit,β said the doctor; βfar from us be any such base thought! There is nothing in the world less nourishing than an olla podrida; to canons, or rectors of colleges, or peasantsβ weddings with your ollas podridas, but let us have none of them on the tables of governors, where everything that is present should be delicate and refined; and the reason is, that always, everywhere and by everybody, simple medicines are more esteemed than compound ones, for we cannot go wrong in those that are simple, while in the compound we may, by merely altering the quantity of the things composing them. But what I am of opinion the governor should eat now in order to preserve and fortify his health is a hundred or so of wafer cakes and a few thin slices of conserve of quinces, which will settle his stomach and help his digestion.β
Sancho on hearing this threw himself back in his chair and surveyed the doctor steadily, and in a solemn tone asked him what his name was and where he had studied.
He replied, βMy name, seΓ±or governor, is Doctor Pedro Recio de AgΓΌero. I am a native of a place called Tirteafuera which lies between Caracuel and AlmodΓ³var del Campo, on the right-hand side, and I have the degree of doctor from the university of Osuna.β
To which Sancho, glowing all over with rage, returned, βThen let Doctor Pedro Recio de MalagΓΌero, native of Tirteafuera,827 a place thatβs on the right-hand side as we go from Caracuel to AlmodΓ³var del Campo, graduate of Osuna, get out of my presence at once; or I swear by the sun Iβll take a cudgel, and by dint of blows, beginning with him, Iβll not leave a doctor in the whole island; at least of those I know to be ignorant; for as to learned, wise, sensible physicians, them I will reverence and honour as divine persons. Once more I say let Pedro Recio get out of this or Iβll take this chair I am sitting on and break it over his head. And if they call me to account for it, Iβll clear myself by saying I served God in killing a bad doctorβ βa general executioner. And now give me something to eat, or else take your government; for a trade that does not feed its master is not worth two beans.β828
The doctor was dismayed when he saw the governor in such a passion, and he would have made a Tirteafuera out of the room but that the same instant a post-horn sounded in the street; and the carver putting his head out of the window turned round and said, βItβs a courier from my lord the duke, no doubt with some despatch of importance.β
The courier came in all sweating and flurried, and taking a paper from his bosom, placed it in the governorβs hands. Sancho handed it to the majordomo and bade him read the superscription, which ran thus: To Don Sancho Panza, Governor of the Island of Barataria, into his own hands or those of his secretary. Sancho when he heard this said, βWhich of you is my secretary?β
βI am, seΓ±or,β said one of those present, βfor I can read and write, and am a Biscayan.β
βWith that addition,β said Sancho, βyou might be secretary to the emperor himself;829 open this paper and see what it says.β The newborn secretary obeyed, and having read the contents
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