Books : Don Quixote
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 863.3
EAN: 9780060188702
ISBN: 0060188707
Label: Ecco
Manufacturer: Ecco
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 976
Publication Date: November 01, 2003
Publisher: Ecco
Release Date: October 21, 2003
Sales Rank: 42804
Studio: Ecco
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Product Description:
Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece. Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. Unless you read Spanish, you've never read Don Quixote.
"Though there have been many valuable English translations of Don Quixote, I would commend Edith Grossman's version for the extraordinarily high quality of her prose. The Knight and Sancho are so eloquently rendered by Grossman that the vitality of their characterization is more clearly conveyed than ever before. There is also an astonishing contextualization of Don Quixote and Sancho in Grossman's translation that I believe has not been achieved before. The spiritual atmosphere of a Spain already in steep decline can be felt throughout, thanks to her heightened quality of diction.
Grossman might be called the Glenn Gould of translators, because she, too, articulates every note. Reading her amazing mode of finding equivalents in English for Cervantes's darkening vision is an entrance into a further understanding of why this great book contains within itself all the novels that have followed in its sublime wake."
From the Introduction by Harold Bloom
Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547, in Alcala de Henares, Spain. At twenty-three he enlisted in the Spanish militia and in 1571 fought against the Turks in the battle of Lepanto, where a gunshot wound permanently crippled his left hand. He spent four more years at sea and then another five as a slave after being captured by Barbary pirates. Ransomed by his family, he returned to Madrid but his disability hampered him; it was in debtor's prison that he began to write Don Quixote. Cervantes wrote many other works, including poems and plays, but he remains best known as the author of Don Quixote. He died on April 23, 1616.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
I haven't laughed at book this much since Superfudge. I actually laughed out loud. This is pretty much slapstick comedy that is popular today... except that it was written around 1600. I only gave this book 3 stars because there are 52 chapters in this book but only the first 31 are really good. The last 21 chapters Cervantes starts to drone on trying to make some point about chivalry. Maybe he was getting paid by the pound at this point. New characters are added every chapter and each one tells their history (a few pages each) and then there is usually a debate about something where each debater professes for a paragraph/page (they become one and the same at this point). And then back and forth. I actually started to skip through towards the end and I don't really think I missed much. In conclusion, I think that this book is worth it for the first 31 chapters.
Rating:  -
Sadly Amazon cannot keep reviews linked to the proper product but this is for the audio CD and not the text version of the Grossman translation. This is the best audio book I have ever heard. The voice characterations are of a quality worthy of this great book. There are no silly tricks or sound effects, just the consistant high level work of a professional actor. The dialogs between Don Quixote and Sancho are priceless and not a single word is not spoken from the text. Do yourself a favor and buy both the text and audio versions of Edith Grossman's translation of Don Quixote and you will not regret it.
This novel was made to be listened to instead of read silently in order to be enjoyed to the fullest extent because the nuances of Cervantes' style is partially lost when reading at eight hundred words a minute. Slow down and really enjoy this book the way it was meant to be because it was meant to be read aloud.
I used it during a full semester course at college devoted to Don Quixote and it paid off handsomely. I have listened to the whole thing at least three times and it turned work into play.
Rating: -
I have read many versions of this book, and this has got to be the best translation by far. However, I find the story lacking in several points. One, there is no concrete story line, Don Quioxte and his "squire" Sancho, seem to wander about the countryside aimlessly. I know many people that have really loved this book, however I was happy to see the end. The best part of the story is the many short stories within the main story told by traveler the wandering knight meets during his journey. Overall, I thought that this book was worth reading only to add to your bank of knowledge to works of Miguel de Cervantes. If you do wish to do that, then this the best translation I have seen.
Rating: -
It is no wonder that this book is considered such a classic (hey, look at the incredibly high number of people who have read it!) Cervantes, whose personal life was an odd story in itself, has managed a tale that reaches for the hero in all of us in a manner that is most hilarious, human, and heartfelt.
It follows the adventures of an aging man who believes himself to be a medieval knight and his faithful, ever-patient servant. Convinced that the world around him is a heck a lot more exciting than it really is, the self-proclaimed Don Quixote makes quite a name for himself.
It's a delightfully random story that will appeal mostly to comedians who still like a healthy dose of meaing and emotion--because, be warned, it is not all pure comedy. There is plenty of layers that keep this as the powerful classic it is. There is less of one concrete plot and more of intertwining stories--indeed, it is definitely a character-driven novel.
It's funny, it's adventurous, and it has old guys trying to dule with windmills. Plus plenty of unexpected heart.
Rating: -
"Don Quixote' is, of course, one of the world's great classics. Cervantes depiction of the elderly knight, swimming with visions of chivalric grandeur, is poignant. The old man [mad or just senile?] is so certain of himself that he is able to convince the simpleton, Sancho Panza, of his glorious mission. Riding on his noble mount, the nag Rocinante, Quixote sets out to right the wrongs of the world. But a chivalric warrior is nothing without a virtuous lady fair, who he finds in the form of the not-so-beauteous barmaid, Dulcinea.
The rest is nobility and self-righteous confusion. The old man battles with notable lack of success against evil giants in the guise of windmills. No matter. Quixote may be battered and bruised but his honor remains intact...at least until reality catches up with him.
To a certain degree, I have used the senile Quixote's confused chivalry in the consruction of my main character, Don Rodrigo de la Pena, in my novels of Conquest of Mexico, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God". De la Pena, is, in his own way, a younger and more lethal version of the great knight which leaves the women in del la Pena's life, completely bewildered.
Ron Braithwaite
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