The next several posts will be primarily my short chapter summaries.  All page numbers are from the Penguin Classics unabridged version of Cervantes’ Don Quixote (translated by John Rutherford).

Part I

Prologue
The point on Don Quixote (the novel) is “to destroy the authority and influence that books of chivalry enjoy” (page 16).  Cervantes also mocks the traditional manner in which books are written (with sonnets from known poets, references in Latin in the margin, and endnotes from other stories).  He is “naturally lazy and disinclined to go hunting for authors to say for me what I know how to say without them” (page 13).

Chapter 1
An almost 50 year old bachelor with land but a meager income became obsessed with stories about knights and their adventures.  Though other townspeople had strong interests in these books, out man spent so much time and thought on these tales that became mad and accepted the tales as reality .  Prompted by this line of thinking, he cleaned an old suit of armor, fashioned a visor for the cap, renamed his nag, himself, and his love interest, and then decided it was necessary to become a knight errant “for the increase of his honour and for the common good” (page 27).

Here are some fun facts before I get started:

• Don Quixote was written (in Spanish) in 1605.
• There are 669 characters in Don Quixote.
• The group They Might Be Giants got their name from a movie which got its name from Don Quixote believing that the windmills were giants.
• You can download the ebook for free (legally).

I read the author’s preface, and it was surprisingly funny and clever!  I look forward to reading this piece.  Please add more fun facts as comments!