Don Quixote: Universal Literature Read as a National Novel
The summer after my freshman year, I took a Monroe grant from the Charles Center at William and Mary and explored Don Quixote in Spain:
“Although many of us are familiar with the universal themes in Don Quixote, some evidence suggests that it can also be read as a “national” novel about Spain. Curious, I read Don Quixote in Spanish and spent twelve days bicycling through La Mancha, the region of Spain where most of the story takes place, to better understand the connections between Don Quixote and Spain.
My project was both a scholarly exercise in literary criticism and a broad educational experience in Spanish language and culture. To the extent which is possible I attempt to share my personal experiene through photographs and narration, but my main product is a literary essay arguing that Don Quixote can be read as a book about Spain. The essay begins by examining Don Quixote as a travel guide, concluding that it offers useful advice and commentary to travellers in La Mancha. It further analyzes the book as a psychological novel, judging that it attacks Spain’s imperial self-image. Cervantes argues metaphorically and allegorically that the empire is in decline, much of Spain is not imperial in character anyway, and that ignoring these facts is both counter-productive and dangerous.”
quixote-essay.pdf –The six-page Spanish essay which was the original product of the investigation
quixote-report.pdf — The report I submitted back to the Charles Center on the results of the project
Quixote speech — The text from a speech I gave to formally present my results (five pages). Probably the most readable of the three.
Quixote images at REALIA — A few of the many photos I took during this project are available, fully annotated, as part of the database of the REALIA project.