"I'm still intrigued by translations and how one could be funnier than the other. Also how much leeway they have while sticking to Cervantes words and staying true to the story?"

Cervantes was born in 1547 in poverty. He seems to have had no formal education, yet in this Prologue, he reveals familiarity with Aristotle, Plato, Scriptures, Horace, Cato, Cicero... He's about 50 years old now - and somehow has turned himself into one of the world's greatest novelists. How? Are we to assume that he has read widely on his own? Come to think of it - what do we know about the availability of books at this time? The printing press in the mid 15th century made books more readily available - but to whom? Shakespeare, his contemporary - was of a good family in Stratford and he had a solid education as a young man. But Cervantes?

The other thing that puzzles me - from the Prologue we learn that Cervantes is writing this book to parody the tales of chivalry, popular at the time. Again I have to admit that I always thought of the Arthurian tales - the Green Knight - as "virtuous" - moralistic - the good guy always wins the fair lady. Why does Cervantes put them down? Because they are not realistic, with magic potions, wizards, Ex Caliber?

"Keep yourself focused on demolishing the whole false, irrational network of those chivalric romances, despised by so many, yet adored by so many more."

I have to admit, that I have "adored" those that I read and wonder what the rest of you thought when you hear them put down as "despicable?

"I don't understand the meaning of "under cover of my cloak I can kill the king." What is meant by this "old saying" and how does it relate to me as the reader of this prologue?"

"The Prologue is followed by a number of sets of burlesque verses, parodies on the poetical tributes to the author and his work, which commonly served to preface a book in Cervantes' time. With their involved humor and recondite allusions, these pieces are hardly to the taste of the modern reader."

"Cervantes - a patient gentleman who wrote a book - has been seated in the Elysian Fields for three centuries now, where he casts melancholy glances about him as he waits for a descendant to be born who shall be capable of understanding him." José Ortega y Gasset

Cervantes is documented as having had some education ... we know now, thanks to Maryal, Pat H. Marni and others - that he must have had some education along the way though his Latin is "shaky", "flawed." He makes occasional mistakes in his classical allusions, ... his background in philosophy "eclectic" - no wonder he is poking fun at academic pretentions - at those who are supposed to be "well-educated." Like JoanK I like to think of him as self-educated too. It seems he had to go out of his way to get what education had - "incomplete schooling" seems to explain his background, we'll forgive him any errors he might make - and keep in mind something Pat H points out - some of his errors may be intentional, his subtle way of poking fun at his contemporary authors. As Scootz points out - those footnotes can be of help - thank you all for sharing as questions arise.

Marni thank you for bringing up the fact that Cervantes is writing during the Spanish inquisition The Church is burning heretics as well as suspicious books which may contain heretical messages. Marni asks - "Does anyone know why literature about knights errant would have been outlawed in Spain in the 16th century?" When we say "outlawed" - we are talking about books being outlawed by the Church...and also by the King. Both the Church and the STATE have different agendas and different reasons for banning certain works. We can talk more about this as we go along. An interesting note on Cervantes' implementing a Moorish narrator, Marni - let's watch for this as we go along.

Carolyn - it IS interesting that artists (the Turkish portraitists (is that even a word?) and writers of this time work under strict rules, punishable by death, isn't it? Self-expression is something that was not encouraged in the 16th century.

Marni - thank you so much for bringing us the information on those stories of knight-errantry at which Cervantes is poking fun - He's not attacking the stories Andy loved...the Arthurian Tales themselves, "the great knight-errants of old".

"By the beginning of the 13th Century, the myths surrounding Arthur and his Knights were becoming considerably expanded by writers and poets who adopted the theme of Arthurian Legend to elaborate issues the the day."

Maryal - "As for the romances that Cervantes (and always gently) makes fun of, there is a whole tradition of them from Cretien de Troyes down to his time. They were wildly popular and very much like each other as author imitated author."

So. It is the "wildly popular, often imitated stories" of the knights of old - sort of formulaic romance novels we have today - some loosely based on historical fact, but not quite accurate. Carolyn sets us up for Chapter I when she writes...

"Don Quixote in his obsession with his reading about Chivalry and the way he becomes divorced from reality reminds me of some soap viewers who get so carried away the characters become real people to them."

Let's try this and see how it works...for the next two days, let's discuss the first three chapters. Will keep a running copy of Prologue Questions and previously discussed chapers in the heading (do you see the link at the very bottom of the page above?) So if you've been away and you want to see some of the questions we've been discussing, you can refer to them. Always feel free to refer to earlier chapters. Oh, and this is important - the questions are only there to provoke thought - there is so much more in the book than you will find there. Please don't confine your observations to these questions.

Let's go, at long last! I'm excited, aren't you?

Is Cervantes writing a parody of:

a. the tales of 11th century chivalry and knight-errantry
b. the 16th centuury tales ABOUT the 11th century knights and chivalry?

"Although Cervantes is ceaselessly careful to be faithfully Catholic, we do not read Don Quixote as a pious work."

"Shakespeare was not professedly a Catholic, although some have tried to make out that he came from a Catholic milieu. Cervantes was part of Philip II's Spain, and you could not be in Philip II's Spain, or sixteenth century Spain, without being aware of your religion, of your faith. Cervantes wrote as a Catholic..."Cervantes and Catholicism

And more -

"Cervantes lived during a historical period when Spain was experiencing its Golden Age and the Reformation was turning Europe into a battleground in which the Turks aggressively fought the Catholic Spaniards for power. A Catholic and patriot, Cervantes was devoutly religious and loyal to his country Cervantes devoutly religious

And finally...last rites on his deathbed -

"Cervantes was not destined to see it in print. (Volume II). He was attacked by dropsy, and, on the 18th of April 1616, received the sacrament of extreme unction; next day he wrote the dedication of Persiles y Sigismunda to the count de Lemos -- the most moving and gallant of farewells.

He died at Madrid in the Calle del León on the 23rd of April; he was borne from his house "with his face uncovered", according to the rule of the Tertiaries of St. Francis, and on the 24th of April was buried in the church attached to the convent of the Trinitarian nuns in the Calle de Cantarranas. There he rests -- the story of his remains being removed in 1633 to the Calle del Humilladero has no foundation in fact -- but the exact position of his grave is unknown." Last rites, Extreme Unction

The Church and Literacy
"The Church, which since the fall of Rome had been the center of European culture, had lost its dominance. Now laymen (and a few women) wrote works in the vernacular languages that dealt with this world rather than the next and artists, often supported by lay patrons, composed works that concentrated on the human not the divine.

The Church was no longer the strong and self-confident institution that had exercised so much power during the high middle ages....

"One reason for the relative decline in the church's centrality was the rapid growth in lay literacy. The clergy no longer enjoyed a monopoly of learning. While the vast majority of the European population remained illiterate, the upper classes and many of the bourgeoisie now could read. And they had much more to read, because Gutenberg's invention of movable type had begun the world's first communication revolution.

The situation was different in other parts of Europe. In Spain, Charles enforced conformity to the orthodox church by using the already existing Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition rooted out any opinions contrary to the accepted doctrine. In parts of Italy, the Inquisition was active as well."
Jean Mason Early Modern European History ~ 16th/17th century

In 1499 or 1500, in Andalucia, Spain, over a million Arabic and Hebrew books from one of the richest collections in history were burned on the orders of Cisneros, Archbishop of Granada Many of the poetic works were allegedly destroyed on account of their symbolized homoeroticism."

(1)"A blatant allusion to the Spanish Inquisition, an ecclesiastical tribunal that investigated persons suspected of crimes against religion, who, if condemned, would be handed over to the "secular arm"or ordinary tribunal for burning.

Martín de Riquer, the editor of the Spanish text, speculates that the error in arithmetic may be an intentional, ironic allusion to Cervantes's three imprisonments for faulty accounts.

"What is the true object of Don Quixote's quest? I find that unanswerable. What are Hamlet's authentic motives? We are not permitted to know. Since Cervantes's magnificent Knight's quest has cosmological scope and reverberation, no object seems beyond reach. ..."

Questions about the Catholic Church and the Inquisition, especially the Spanish Inquisition, will continue to come up.

1. The Dore illustration of the windmill defeat is clickable to enlarge - enjoy!

2. The Spanish Punctuation guide is in the heading now - in case you want to practice writing Señor Quixote.

progressively inferior races, those of silver, bronze and iron, the last being our own; the deterioration was interrupted by the race of heroes (those who fought in the Theban and Trojan wars) who immediately preceded us. The Roman poets Horace, Virgil and Ovid all borrowed the idea, but the Romans, in translating the Greek word genos (generation or race), by the Latin saeculum incidentally introduced the additional meaning of the latter, namely "age" or "long period of time." Hence there came about the idea of a Golden Age.

The term "Golden Age" has also been used by literary critics to describe the Ciceronian and Augustan ages of Latin literature.

In the Middle Ages it[ Eclogue 4] was accepted as a Messianic prophecy of the birth of the Christ-child given under divine inspiration. St. Jerome was exceptional in expressing disbelief.

"Hesiod serves as a major source for knowledge of Greek mythology, farming techniques, archaic Greek astronomy and ancient time-keeping.

Hesiod wrote a poem of some 800 verses, the Works and Days, which revolves around two general truths: labour is the universal lot of Man, but he who is willing to work will get by. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of documented colonisations in search of new land.

This work lays out the five Ages of Man, as well as containing advice and wisdom, prescribing a life of honest labour and attacking idleness and unjust judges (like those who decided in favour of Perses) as well as the practice of usury. It describes immortals who roam the earth watching over justice and injustice.3 The poem regards labor as the source of all good, in that both gods and men hate the idle, who resemble drones in a hive.4

...the first printed edition (editio princeps) of Works and Days, possibly at Milan, probably in 1493. (Doesn't it sound familiar? I'll bet Cervantes read it?)

A description of Hesiod's Five Ages" tells us that

The Golden Age - In classical mythology, this took place during the reign of Cronus. Peace and harmony prevailed during this age. Humans did not grow old, but died peacefully. Spring was eternal and people were fed on acorns from a great oak as well as wild fruits and honey that dripped from the trees. The spirits of those men who died were known as Aimones and were guides for the later ancient Greeks (who considered themselves to live in the later Iron Age.)

This race eventually died out when Prometheus (a Titan) gave the secret of fire to men. Zeus punished men, allowing Pandora to open her box which unleashed all evil in the mortal world.

Within sequences or cycles of eras, the golden age stands alongside the silver age and the iron age, and conditions can improve or decline according to one's conception of mythic progression.

[edit] Christianity In Christian tradition, the Golden Age is identified with Eden. It is considered to return during the reign of Christ which will never end.

THE IRON AGE is described as the age we are in now - beginning with the Dorian invasion - This is the current age where humans bicker and fight, and have to struggle to eke out their existence. Zeus will someday destroy this race of humans."

"Forget everything you thought you knew about Greek life. These women came curious about a new kind of sorority, one that could change stereotypes of Muslim women, one based on Islamic beliefs: no drinking, no socializing with men.

So they came to this new kind of rush, some covered head to toe in dark abayas , some with scarves pinned carefully around their heads and strappy four-inch heels, some with hair loose and jeans tight. Like so many Americans, most of these women don't fit into any easy cultural niche; they've been blending and balancing all their lives. There isn't, apparently, any other Islamic sorority or fraternity in the United States.

Imani Abdul-Haqq, who wanted to pledge a sorority in North Carolina. When Abdul-Haqq walked in with her hijab , Collins said, "everyone looked at her like she had three heads."

Collins and her daughter, who became Muslim several years ago, thought sororities' emphasis on volunteering and leadership would make Muslim women more visible and help dispel stereotypes."

Same feeling here about the Don and the squire. Sancho is practical, down-to-earth, level-headed. The Don, the single-minded knight errant, was completely impractical and had his head in the clouds. They are a unit, a combined force. Each is necessary to the story.

May I hark back to HATS's # 402. Yes, the basilisk in classical mythology was variously described as a sea serpent, a lizard, or a dragon. Its evil breath or its eyes were said to cause instant death.

We spoke of Tantalus and Sisiphus when we discussed Edith Hamilton's Mythology in January of 2005.

Tantalus was a son of Zeus by a mortal woman. The gods honored him and allowed him to eat at their table and to taste the nectar and ambrosia, of which, except for him alone, none but the immortals could partake. They even came to his palace for a banquet and condescended to eat with him. This is how egregiously Tantalus offended them:

He had his only son Pelops killed, boiled in a large cauldron and served to the gods. We know his punishment: He had to stand in a pool of water in Hades, forever thirsty and hungry. When he bent down to drink, the water receded. Pears, pomegranates, rosy apples and sweet figs hung temptingly close on fruit trees above the pool. But every time he stretched out his hand, the wind tossed the branches way out of his reach.

"The Crusades were expeditions undertaken, in fulfillment of a solemn vow, to deliver the Holy Places from Mohammedan tyranny.

In reality the Crusades continued until the end of the seventeenth century, the crusade of in 1571.

Dore

...the Prince of New Biscay, whose shield shows a golden cat on a tawny field, and a motto - MIAU

...the Duke of Nerbia who carries an asparagus on his shield, with a motto declaring, 'My Luck Grows Straight'

Noun-
1. pestilence - any epidemic disease with a high death rate Synonyms: plague
2. pestilence - a pernicious evil influence

The Manheim Medal, which is awarded only once every three years, recognizes a lifetime of excellence in translation, and, at 70,the PEN American Center gives her its Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation

Her vivid, colorful translations of contemporary Latin American masters— García Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Mutis, Montero—and of the golden age classic Don Quixote transport the English reader beyond the borders of our language and deep into the realm of the imagination.” Edith Grossman wins Manheim medal for Translation

You are a sensible man, and you know what a man does first isn't always under his control."

Ballerina
Barbie

"In 1584, Cervantes married Catalina de Salazar y Palacios, eighteen years younger than the thirty-seven year old man. Her family, although peasant, was ironically more well off than Cervantes'. Although their marriage produced no children, they raised Isabel de Saavedra, Cervantes' daughter from an earlier affair with a Spanish actress. Five years after the marriage, Cervantes and Catalina broke up." "(With the wife who is raising his daughter from an earlier affair!)

" In 1613, the King's Men twice performed a play called "Cardenio", based on a story from Cervantes' work. In 1653, an editor named Mosley published the play and said that the authors were Shakespeare and Fletcher. We have no surviving copies of the play so we cannot judge for ourselves.

Therefore we cannot know what Shakespeare thought of Cervantes, though we can surmise his delight. Cervantes, an unsuccessful dramatist, presumably had never heard of Shakespeare, but I doubt he would have valued Falstaff and Hamlet, both of whom chose the self's freedom over obligations of any kind." Guardian Review

As the king in quest of Roland speeds,
The flowers and grass throughout the meads
He sees all red with our baron's blood,
And his tears of pity break forth in flood.

He upward climbs, till, beneath two trees, The dints upon the rock he sees. Of Roland's corpse he was then aware;

Stretched it lay on the green grass BARE.

No marvel sorrow the king oppressed;
He alighted down, and in haste he pressed,
Took the body his arms between,
And fainted: dire his grief I ween. Song of Roland

"for one minute at 3 p.m. local time in order to reflect on the sacrifices made by others for our nation."

The Rosary defeated the Muslims at the Battle of Lepanto. "At that very moment, at dawn on October 7, 1571-- as Vatican Archives later revealed--Pope Pius V, accompanied by many faithful, was praying the Rosary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. From dawn to dusk the prayers continued in Rome as the Christians and the Muslims battled at Lepanto. When it was all over the Muslims had been defeated. Of some 270 Moslem ships, at least 200 were destroyed. The Turks also lost 30,000 men while Christian casualties numbered between 4,000 and 5,000." At that very moment, at dawn on October 7, 1571-- as Vatican Archives later revealed--Pope Pius V, accompanied by many faithful, was praying the Rosary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. From dawn to dusk the prayers continued in Rome as the Christians and the Muslims battled at Lepanto. When it was all over the Muslims had been defeated. Of some 270 Moslem ships, at least 200 were destroyed. The Turks also lost 30,000 men while Christian casualties numbered between 4,000 and 5,000.
******************************
"Un millón de avemarías”: El rosario en Don Quijote
As an instrument of religious devotion, the rosary acquired renewed importance through its papally decreed association with the battle of Lepanto. The victory over the Turks on that occasion was perceived by Cervantes as the most important event of all times. And yet in Don Quijote, Cervantes presents the rosary bathed in satire, which in one instance went beyond the limits of endurance of the Portuguese Inquisition.

I conclude that the treatment of the rosary in Don Quijote may offer us a clue to the conflict between the new religiosity then being imposed by post-Tridentine Catholicism, and the popular manifestations of devotion prevalent at the time." References to the Rosary in Don Quixote - the Cervantes Society of America

"and quickly pulling off his breeches, leaving himself in just his shirtails and his skin, without more ado he swiftly jumped as high as he could and did a pair of somersaults..."