WEBVTT

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Prof: Let me begin by
repeating my last point in last

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Tuesday's lecture.

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The birth of Don Quixote
is an act of self invention by a

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man of fifty,
and remember that fifty is a

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very advanced age in 1605.

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He feels free to create himself
beyond family birth and need.

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In this, the novel is directly
opposed to most previous

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literature, particularly the
romances of chivalry where they

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were miraculous births.

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And the picaresque,
very much in particular,

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the picaresque,
in which family background and

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need determined the life of the
protagonist,

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or so he claims as he tells his
life,

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his poverty,
and the family background

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weighs heavily on the rest of
his life in the case of the

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Don Quixote is beyond family
and social determinisms.

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In most previous stories,
young people leave home in

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search of adventures that will
give substance,

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meaning and individuality to
their lives.

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Can you think of another old
protagonist before Don Quixote?

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How old was the pilgrim in
the Divine Comedy?

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I think he was thirty-three.

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How old was Odysseus in the
Odyssey?

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How old Aeneas in the
Aeneid?

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Celestina, it is true,
was old, but she shares the

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limelight with young lovers.

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Don Quixote,
as I think I said in the last

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class, is beyond Freud,
beyond the family romance.

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In fact, though we learn a
great deal about him in the

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first chapter,
we learn nothing of his

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parents.

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His genealogy is literary,
the books that he has read.

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The most innovative aspect of
Don Quixote is the character's

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self fashioning as Steve
Greenblatt would put it in a

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book called Renaissance
Self-Fashioning.

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The reader witnesses this self
transformation in all its

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levels, from the mental to the
physical, from what Don Quixote

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thinks to what he wears.

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He, not an author,
names him, his horse and his

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lady.

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His is a life that will be
molded like a work to art.

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Life will imitate art.

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But what is the significance of
this self invention,

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of this resurrection as it
were?

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Renaissance humanism emphasized
the power of human agency.

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It is the beginning of a
liberation from a God-centered

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conception of the world and of
human kind.

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being the first story of a world
that has been abandoned by God.

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So in this world abandoned by
God man creates himself,

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Don Quixote creates himself.

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"En un lugar de la
Mancha de cuyo

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nombre..."

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This is the first sentence of
the book.

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Jarvis translates:
"In a village of La Mancha

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the name of which I purposely
omit there lived long ago."

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This is a sentence,
by the way, that most literate

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native speakers of Spanish know
by heart even if they haven't

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read the rest of the
Quixote.

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And the disclaimer,
"de cuyo nombre no

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quiero acordarme"
is also used in conversation,

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to say I don't want to remember
this.

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Now, it is known the way that
English speakers know,

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"It was the best of
times," "it was the

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worst of times,"
A Tale of Two Cities,

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or, "Call me Ishmael,
"the beginning of Moby

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Dick and so forth.

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In the Quixote
literature appears,

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as I've been saying,
as a realm of self legitimation

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and the display of wit and
capacity for invention which is

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what Cervantes appears to be
affirming in the first sentence

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of the book.

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He does not wish,
as a narrator,

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he does not wish to remember
the place in La Mancha where Don

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Quixote lived.

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It is a display of authorial
will.

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The sentence is full of other
implications;

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there is the echo of the
opening of traditional stories

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as well as that of official
documents that attest to one's

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being by stating where one is
from in the stories,

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"in such-and-such a
country long ago"

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and the country is named.

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Or "my name is such-and-so
and I live in such-and-such a

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place, and was born in
such-and-such a place,"

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a legal document.

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To make such a statement is
one's strongest form of

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grounding, but here willfully
omitted.

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A place name that is erased by
the creative will of the author:

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"No quiero
acordarme,"

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I don't want to remember it,
against the traditional

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formulas in which it is given.

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The origin, this origin,
this place,

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this village,
this lugar as it's

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called in the sixteenth century
Spanish,

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to which the protagonist
returns several times and

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definitively at the end is not
named.

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It is as if here the source
were non-determining,

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as the age of Don Quixote is
non-determining in his

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subsequent adventures.

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This is perhaps the reason why
the origin,

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which is also the
destination--because Don Quixote

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will return to die at home
giving away the plot here,

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I'm sorry--this is perhaps the
reason why the origin which is

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also a destination is left blank
deliberately effaced from the

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story.

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It is a non-place,
although many towns in Spain

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claim to be the town in which
Don Quixote was born.

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Now, Don Quixote's name and
other names,

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we have all ready spoken about
quesada,

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quijada,
quejana,

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and by now you have read all of
these potential variations of

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Alonso Quijano's first name.

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The point is also one prevalent
throughout the book,

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the fluctuations of language in
reference to meaning and to

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truth.

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If language is so shifty,
how can we express the truth in

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language?

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Spitzer, Leo Spitzer,
a great German critic who

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worked in this country for many
years and taught at Johns

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Hopkins University,
in the piece "On

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Linguistic Perspectivism"
that you will read in your

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Casebook makes much of
this,

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and he makes much of this with
the knowledge of the linguist

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and philologist that he was,
you will see.

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Language and its vagaries also
constitutes Cervantes's point of

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view about what is commonly
accepted as the truth,

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and how the truth can be
commonly accepted in a medium as

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shifty as language.

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But the blurry name,
Quixote, quijana,

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quesada,
and so forth,

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is also a way of playing with
the absence of determinisms as

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being from La Mancha,
a non-place,

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as it were, a name and a place
marked the characters in the

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epic and in the romances of
chivalry,

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of Gaul;
Lazarillo de Tormes,

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Tormes is the river that goes
through Salamanca,

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a place that is named,
Alfarache.

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But not in the Quixote
significantly.

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Now, Don Quixote names his lady
Dulcinea del Toboso and

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Rocinante.

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In the first case,
the lady, he follows literary

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convention.

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Her name rhymes with Melibea,
who is one of the protagonists

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of Celestina,
the beautiful young woman.

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And 'dulce' means
'sweet' in Spanish,

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so you can see the origin and
the intention behind naming

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Dulcinea that,
while the horse's name reflects

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something of his reality,
'Rocinante,'

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before, 'antes' is
'before' in Spanish.

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Rocinante, the name,
does reflect in a very direct

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and comical way,
because it reflects precisely

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the reality about this nag.

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Don Quixote's capacity naming
for naming, as we will see,

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is quite extraordinary,
he is a man words and of the

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word.

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But the crucial point here is
that he is naming himself,

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his lady, and his horse as part
of this process of self

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invention,
like Adam, giving names to

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things in the Garden of Eden,
or God giving names to things.

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This is part and parcel of the
process of self invention,

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I repeat.

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Now, we move on to chapter II
which is one of the most,

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for me, remarkable moments in
all of literature.

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The protagonist has created
himself and he leaves at dawn,

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the beginning of a new day,
of a new life,

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and sets out on the Montiel
Plain alone.

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It is a will beginning from
zero, from a voluntary severing

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of ties with any possible
determining force except for the

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loss of chivalry and for
literature.

10:52.110 --> 10:57.980
It is a moment of freedom,
of freedom achieved,

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freedom from the past.

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But as he goes along,
he anticipates,

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Don Quixote anticipates the
literary text that will be

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written about the exploits that
he is in the process of

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accomplishing,
or that he thinks he's in the

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process of accomplishing.

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There's a gap,
of course, between the high

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flown rhetoric of the romances
of chivalry that he uses and the

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literal plain--
there is a plain--upon which he

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gallops or trots probably.

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But this is precisely the gap
between literature and reality,

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between writing and experience
that will be at the core of

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Cervantes' exploration of the
nature of writing.

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The present and the writing of
the text hangs somewhere in

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between the reality and this
high flown rhetoric that are

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parallel and simultaneous in
their appearance in the book.

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This is quite remarkable and it
may pass unnoticed,

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but I want you to take notice
of it.

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It's on the translation we are
using, pages 26,27,

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Don Quixote,
as he goes on the plain of

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Montiel says to himself:
"Who doubts but that but

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in future times when the
faithful history of my famous

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exploits are come to light,
the sage who writes them when

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he gives a relation of this my
first sally so early in the

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morning,
will do it in words like this:

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'Scarcely had the ruddy feebles
spread the golden tresses of his

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beauteous hair over the face of
the wide and spacious earth and

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scarcely had the painted birds
with the sweet and mellifluous

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harmony of their forked tongues
saluted the approach of rosy

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Aurora who,
quitting the soft coach of her

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jealous husband...'"-- and
so forth and so on.

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He's using all of these
references to Classical

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mythology to refer to himself as
he projects the text that will

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be written about him.

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Now, he arrives at the inn.

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We know, and this is a fact to
remember, from the episode in

13:27.144 --> 13:35.484
the inn, that Don Quixote leaves
home on a hot Friday in July.

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How do we know this?

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We know it because they serve
fish to Don Quixote at the inn,

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explaining that the eating of
red meat is forbidden on Fridays

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by the Catholic Church.

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It was until the 1960s of the
past century.

13:51.418 --> 13:55.768
So it is clear because it is a
hot day and it is the month of

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July that this is a hot Friday
in July.

13:58.750 --> 14:02.840
The specificity of time and
place is a new feature of

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fiction, of this realist
fiction.

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As we saw, the romances of
chivalry took place in vague

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fabulous countries and times.

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Not the Quixote, which
derived from the picaresque a

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pension for the particular in
everything.

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It is the birth of what we know
as realism,

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whose origins and intention I
spoke about in the last lecture,

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interest in society at its
lowest level and the acquisition

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of aesthetic value by the
sordid, the ugly and the dirty.

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Now, the heat by the way,
would presumably and it says so

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in the text,
contribute to Don Quixote's

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madness according to theories of
the time which are probably not

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all together wrong--
if you are out in the desert in

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the heat,
you might lose your senses, too.

14:58.678 --> 15:03.748
But the weather is important
for other reasons in the

15:03.754 --> 15:06.624
Quixote,
specific weather,

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not the fabulous weather,
mists and all of that in the

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romances of chivalry.

15:12.600 --> 15:18.300
Both parts of the novel take
place in a vaguely framed

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summer,
in part, because the heat

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contributes to Don Quixote's
madness,

15:22.399 --> 15:26.299
as I say, but also because it
makes it logical for everyone to

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be outdoors on the road.

15:27.960 --> 15:33.020
We'll see a little bit more
about why people are on the

15:33.023 --> 15:33.683
road.

15:33.678 --> 15:39.248
There's also the very important
issue that begins in these early

15:39.254 --> 15:43.064
chapters already of light and
visibility;

15:43.058 --> 15:48.088
being able to discern objects
and make them out,

15:48.086 --> 15:54.386
which leaves disputes between
the two protagonists about the

15:54.394 --> 15:57.394
nature of what they see.

15:57.389 --> 16:03.319
If you have been to Spain and
to Castile you know that the air

16:03.320 --> 16:04.390
is clear.

16:04.389 --> 16:10.939
It is hot and dry,
and the visibility is very,

16:10.942 --> 16:12.692
very good.

16:12.690 --> 16:16.530
This first inn is crucial
because it sets up one of the

16:16.533 --> 16:20.383
most important places where the
action will develop.

16:20.379 --> 16:25.129
Inns, as you will soon
discover, are way stations where

16:25.134 --> 16:30.774
all sorts of meetings take place
and hilarious scenes develop.

16:30.769 --> 16:34.819
The Quixote follows the
loose structure of the adventure

16:34.817 --> 16:36.667
book,
like the romances of chivalry

16:36.674 --> 16:39.604
that it parodies,
but also like the picaresque,

16:39.602 --> 16:43.642
so it needs these inns as way
points where characters from

16:43.639 --> 16:46.189
various origins and classes
meet.

16:46.190 --> 16:49.670
The inn can provide a kind of
archaeology of society,

16:49.668 --> 16:54.608
a moveable home for characters
away from home--

16:54.610 --> 16:57.320
What I mean by an archaeology
of society is that you see at

16:57.323 --> 17:00.623
the same time,
as you make a cut on the earth

17:00.615 --> 17:05.385
to study the various layers,
here you see various layers of

17:05.386 --> 17:09.636
social classes all present at
the same time in the inn.

17:09.640 --> 17:13.470
This is where the inn provides
what I call an archaeology of

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society--
It is at the inn that we

17:16.040 --> 17:20.850
encounter for the first time Don
Quixote's ability to transform

17:20.849 --> 17:24.029
crass reality into literary
illusion--

17:24.028 --> 17:26.348
although he has done some of
that in naming,

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of course, his horse--a process
that is highlighted by the fact

17:30.786 --> 17:34.646
that he is confronted with the
extreme of crassness.

17:34.650 --> 17:39.540
No ordinary women does he turn
into damsels,

17:39.540 --> 17:43.480
but whores;
not ordinary travelers but

17:43.477 --> 17:46.407
swine herders:
the lowest of the

17:46.407 --> 17:51.977
lowest--people who dealt with
pigs who are the lowest of the

17:51.984 --> 17:53.124
lowest.

17:53.118 --> 17:57.088
There is a grotesque contrast
between the innkeeper,

17:57.088 --> 18:01.368
the whores, and the knighting
ceremony, for instance.

18:01.369 --> 18:04.069
It's a clash of extremes.

18:04.068 --> 18:08.748
Is there an element ennoblement
in Don Quixote's dogged

18:08.752 --> 18:12.052
perception of the ugly as
beautiful?

18:12.048 --> 18:17.918
Is this one of the reasons the
book has endured,

18:17.922 --> 18:24.172
one's desire to ennoble reality
with one's will?

18:24.170 --> 18:28.070
Do we begin to glimpse here in
the madness a mission to force

18:28.066 --> 18:30.466
on to reality his perception of
it?

18:30.470 --> 18:35.720
But also notice that because he
treats the whores with

18:35.720 --> 18:41.170
deference, they are kind to him,
as is the innkeeper.

18:41.170 --> 18:46.280
It is a constant in Cervantes'
work that lower class people,

18:46.277 --> 18:50.517
even criminals can be kind in
given situations.

18:50.519 --> 18:57.159
There is no class determinism
in Cervantes making criminals

18:57.159 --> 19:00.249
evil, quite the contrary.

19:00.250 --> 19:04.760
His overall,
Cervantes' overall vision of

19:04.758 --> 19:11.258
humankind is a positive one;
no one is completely evil in

19:11.255 --> 19:12.475
Cervantes.

19:12.480 --> 19:17.490
In this, he is very different
from Shakespeare and his somber

19:17.486 --> 19:21.476
conception of the human,
if we are going to believe my

19:21.482 --> 19:25.272
very dear friend Harold Bloom
and his version of Shakespeare,

19:25.269 --> 19:28.439
in Shakespeare:
the Invention of the Human.

19:28.440 --> 19:34.110
Cervantes' view of humanity is
not as somber and you will

19:34.112 --> 19:37.862
discover this as you read the
book.

19:37.858 --> 19:41.208
It is also at the inn,
however, that Don Quixote is

19:41.212 --> 19:44.972
turned for the first time into
an object of amusement.

19:44.970 --> 19:49.520
The innkeeper plays along to
have something to laugh at that

19:49.521 --> 19:50.141
night.

19:50.140 --> 19:53.690
Are not the innkeeper and the
other guests in need of

19:53.686 --> 19:57.776
amusement like the 'idle reader'
that Cervantes addresses?

19:57.779 --> 20:02.689
Here is another level at which
Don Quixote is going to

20:02.692 --> 20:04.332
provide amusement.

20:04.328 --> 20:07.778
The ceremony of the knighting
of Don Quixote is a parody of

20:07.778 --> 20:11.848
those in the books of chivalry,
in the romances of chivalry,

20:11.848 --> 20:16.168
but do we not begin to notice
in this scene a certain degree

20:16.166 --> 20:20.116
of cruelty towards Don Quixote
and on the part of other

20:20.118 --> 20:23.118
characters and of Cervantes
himself?

20:23.118 --> 20:26.298
This is something that Jorge
Luis Borges, the great Argentine

20:26.297 --> 20:27.777
writer, has remarked upon.

20:27.778 --> 20:31.578
There's certain cruelness
sometimes in the way that

20:31.582 --> 20:34.322
Cervantes portrays his
characters.

20:34.318 --> 20:38.558
There is a hint that trying to
do the good can be ridiculous,

20:38.557 --> 20:42.157
and that no good deed goes
unpunished as it were.

20:42.160 --> 20:45.890
But this is so chiefly,
I think, because Don Quixote is

20:45.887 --> 20:49.337
a living anachronism,
he has conceptions of justice

20:49.339 --> 20:50.859
that are outmoded.

20:50.858 --> 20:53.778
Now, in the original,
the contrast between Don

20:53.777 --> 20:57.597
Quixote and the other characters
is achieved by means of the

20:57.603 --> 21:00.783
manners of speech and
dialectical contrasts--

21:00.778 --> 21:06.218
We will see that in a minute in
his fight with the Basque,

21:06.220 --> 21:08.650
I call him, Jarvis calls him
something else and we'll get

21:08.653 --> 21:12.033
into that in a minute--
Don Quixote's speech turns to

21:12.031 --> 21:13.061
the archaic.

21:13.058 --> 21:19.588
When he speaks about matters of
chivalry he uses archaic words

21:19.585 --> 21:23.645
drawn from the romances of
chivalry.

21:23.650 --> 21:27.870
This is a very important part
of Cervantes' achievement that

21:27.865 --> 21:33.445
is lost in the translation,
but that the English reader can

21:33.452 --> 21:35.502
gage,
that is, the differentiation

21:35.498 --> 21:38.258
between the characters or among
the characters by the way they

21:38.261 --> 21:38.671
speak.

21:38.670 --> 21:42.490
You can gage it by thinking of
a novel that was very much

21:42.486 --> 21:45.486
influenced by Cervantes,
The Adventures of

21:45.486 --> 21:47.186
Huckleberry Finn.

21:47.190 --> 21:51.150
Speech marks the characters by
providing their social station

21:51.146 --> 21:55.426
and even region of origin--
We will see that in a minute--I

21:55.431 --> 21:59.721
read The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn as a child

21:59.715 --> 22:02.655
in Spanish and,
of course, they didn't

22:02.661 --> 22:06.801
translate into the Spanish the
dialect differences between Jim

22:06.795 --> 22:08.485
and Huck and so forth.

22:08.490 --> 22:09.960
I still liked the novel very
much,

22:09.960 --> 22:13.450
and then, when I read it once I
had learned English in college,

22:13.450 --> 22:15.720
I was astonished,
it was like another book,

22:15.720 --> 22:21.180
and I had a great deal of
difficulty understanding Jim's

22:21.176 --> 22:22.066
speech.

22:22.068 --> 22:25.318
This is prevalent in the
Quixote.

22:25.318 --> 22:30.748
It's perhaps the first novel in
which this is accomplished.

22:30.750 --> 22:36.200
The innkeeper is himself like a
literary character and a kind of

22:36.201 --> 22:39.751
Quixote in that he tells of his
youth,

22:44.770 --> 22:47.580
had been a romance of chivalry.

22:47.578 --> 22:52.018
He uses the rhetoric of the
romance of chivalry to tell of

22:52.021 --> 22:56.781
his life of petty crime and he
is a minor Don Juan who seduces

22:56.776 --> 23:01.096
widows and stuff like that,
he says with great pride,

23:01.098 --> 23:05.048
and he mentions the places
where he had been as if they

23:05.049 --> 23:09.359
were great places,
and they are really the most

23:14.280 --> 23:15.150
Spain.

23:15.150 --> 23:19.790
So he too can play Don
Quixote's rhetorical game;

23:19.788 --> 23:24.828
he's kind of an inverted mirror
image of Don Quixote,

23:24.830 --> 23:25.510
here.

23:25.509 --> 23:27.009
You have to read carefully.

23:27.011 --> 23:30.131
Cervantes is very subtle in
creating these characters,

23:30.130 --> 23:34.260
and here we have this character
sort of mocking,

23:34.259 --> 23:42.709
but at the same time using Don
Quixote's rhetoric to transform

23:42.711 --> 23:47.701
his life into something
important.

23:47.700 --> 23:51.360
So there is a kind of a
synthesis in this character

23:51.362 --> 23:55.392
between the rhetoric of the
romances of chivalry and the

23:55.391 --> 23:56.491
picaresque.

23:56.490 --> 24:01.240
This is what Cervantes achieves
through this very interesting

24:01.240 --> 24:02.190
character.

24:02.190 --> 24:09.510
Now, the knighting is obviously
a kind of baptism.

24:09.509 --> 24:12.959
It is a parody of similar
ceremonies in the romances of

24:12.963 --> 24:14.503
chivalry as I've said.

24:14.500 --> 24:18.010
It is true that it is a parody,
but in the fictitious world

24:18.006 --> 24:19.876
that Don Quixote is creating.

24:19.880 --> 24:23.580
It has a certain aura of
sacredness, nevertheless.

24:23.578 --> 24:27.188
The act completes the process
of self invention that began in

24:27.193 --> 24:30.943
the first chapter,
it legitimizes it within that

24:30.935 --> 24:33.765
world,
with the ceremony of his being

24:33.771 --> 24:34.491
knighted.

24:34.490 --> 24:37.450
Of course, he's being knighted
by a ridiculous retired

24:40.753 --> 24:42.843
forth,
but nevertheless,

24:42.843 --> 24:48.053
it has an aura of sacredness
and that he has finally achieved

24:48.046 --> 24:49.256
knighthood.

24:49.259 --> 24:53.889
Now, the two episodes in the
road after knighting intensify

24:53.888 --> 24:58.038
moral issues that Don Quixote's
madness brings up.

24:58.038 --> 25:03.508
Why does his madness bring up
these moral issues?

25:03.509 --> 25:06.939
Because in his madness he
refuses to abide,

25:06.940 --> 25:10.860
to recognize and to accept
social conventions.

25:10.858 --> 25:15.868
And that way he highlights the
arbitrariness of such

25:15.873 --> 25:17.253
conventions.

25:17.250 --> 25:21.910
Madmen and children do that by
asking why, why,

25:21.913 --> 25:23.033
why, why?

25:23.028 --> 25:26.888
Or by acting as if they don't
care why,

25:26.890 --> 25:29.920
and then bringing out that
these conventions are,

25:29.920 --> 25:33.180
indeed, conventional,
and this is why Don Quixote

25:33.184 --> 25:37.204
will,
once and again,

25:37.200 --> 25:42.060
create moral crisis.

25:42.058 --> 25:47.148
With Juan Haldudo,
Juan Haldudo is the fellow who

25:51.406 --> 25:58.926
for having, according to him,
for having stolen from him some

25:58.928 --> 26:01.238
of his animals.

26:01.240 --> 26:04.040
With Juan Haldudo,
Don Quixote trusts in a kind of

26:04.041 --> 26:07.021
honesty that does not exist
anymore, or perhaps never

26:07.016 --> 26:09.586
existed, except in the books of
chivalry.

26:09.588 --> 26:15.588
His intervention makes matters
worse, as we know.

26:15.588 --> 26:19.928
This is the first of several
episodes in which the reader

26:19.928 --> 26:22.328
seems to be invited to judge.

26:22.329 --> 26:25.299
Who is right?

26:31.271 --> 26:35.441
and that he may have,
indeed, stolen from his master,

26:35.438 --> 26:38.698
in which case,
according to the laws of the

26:38.704 --> 26:41.514
land, Haldudo had every right to
flog him.

26:44.358 --> 26:48.768
and he will reappear--he is on
his way to Seville,

26:48.769 --> 26:53.209
that's a telltale sign because
Seville was the center of

26:53.207 --> 26:54.657
picaresque life.

26:54.660 --> 26:58.870
Now, think of Seville as being
a very,

26:58.868 --> 27:03.288
very important port in Spain in
because it was through Seville--

27:03.288 --> 27:08.608
read your Elliot--that Spain
communicated with its overseas

27:08.605 --> 27:09.425
empire.

27:09.430 --> 27:12.570
Everything came in through
Seville, which is up the

27:12.568 --> 27:15.328
Guadalquivir River,
so it's protected in that

27:15.332 --> 27:15.962
sense.

27:15.960 --> 27:19.940
So Seville was a teaming port
and ports are always full of

27:19.941 --> 27:21.801
corruption,
and the like,

27:21.803 --> 27:26.023
because of all of the exchange
of goods and the various peoples

27:26.015 --> 27:27.165
who are there.

27:27.170 --> 27:31.290
So Seville was known for being
the center of picaresque life.

27:31.288 --> 27:33.128
So this details,
Cervantes throws in there,

27:41.085 --> 27:46.705
so he may have been guilty when
Haldudo whips him.

27:46.710 --> 27:53.610
Don Quixote is applying justice
that is anachronistic,

27:53.608 --> 27:59.038
because by this time Spain had
a very well developed and

27:59.042 --> 28:02.602
thorough criminal justice
system,

28:02.598 --> 28:05.838
very thorough and very well
developed.

28:05.838 --> 28:09.998
All of these matters found
their way--;-it was a litigious

28:09.997 --> 28:14.227
society, almost as much as the
United States is a litigious

28:14.228 --> 28:15.758
society nowadays.

28:15.759 --> 28:22.539
So the way that he intervenes
is totally anachronistic.

28:22.538 --> 28:26.368
Now, with the Toledo merchants
the conflict takes on a more

28:26.366 --> 28:29.996
philosophical even doctrinaire
tact, even though it is a

28:29.998 --> 28:31.448
hilarious episode.

28:31.450 --> 28:34.700
This is where he appears before
these merchants and says that

28:34.701 --> 28:37.731
they have to declare that
Dulcinea del Toboso is the most

28:37.734 --> 28:39.474
beautiful lady in the world.

28:39.470 --> 28:42.980
And at a distance he is saying
this one of them,

28:42.980 --> 28:46.850
who is a bit of a jester,
that Cervantes interjects,

28:46.848 --> 28:50.088
he says, "Well,
wait a minute,

28:50.088 --> 28:54.078
couldn't you at least show some
kind of a picture or something

28:54.082 --> 28:55.852
that we can gage this by?

28:55.848 --> 28:59.148
Because she may have some stuff
pouring out of her eye."

28:59.150 --> 29:01.190
And Don Quixote says,
"Nothing pours out of her

29:01.190 --> 29:01.670
eye!"

29:01.670 --> 29:06.370
and then he charges and
Rocinante falls,

29:06.368 --> 29:13.478
and this is a totally hilarious
episode, but can one believe

29:13.478 --> 29:16.368
what one cannot see?

29:16.369 --> 29:18.709
See what is behind this episode?

29:18.710 --> 29:24.850
What is the role of sensorial
experience in questions of

29:24.854 --> 29:25.864
belief?

29:25.858 --> 29:31.728
Isn't there also potentially a
socio-religious subtext here?

29:31.730 --> 29:37.150
Is it not likely that these
merchants from Toledo are Jews

29:37.147 --> 29:39.047
or converted Jews?

29:39.048 --> 29:41.388
That is Jews,
who have been forced to

29:41.390 --> 29:42.040
convert.

29:42.038 --> 29:46.948
Then is the test to which they
are being subjected not playing

29:46.952 --> 29:51.222
with the issue of conversion,
of forced conversion.

29:51.220 --> 29:55.420
It also seems to allude to
fierce debates in the sixteenth

29:55.415 --> 29:59.895
century about religious images,
which the Protestants did not

29:59.904 --> 30:02.854
allow and the Catholics did,
and so forth.

30:02.849 --> 30:06.099
The stakes are getting higher.

30:06.098 --> 30:07.898
And as I explained in an
earlier lecture,

30:07.900 --> 30:11.310
Cervantes presents his higher
stakes always in a light vane

30:11.307 --> 30:17.037
and a very humorous episode,
but still, these issues are

30:17.037 --> 30:18.047
there.

30:18.048 --> 30:20.798
Now, Don Quixote,
of course, is beaten to a pulp

30:20.804 --> 30:22.274
by one of the servants.

30:22.269 --> 30:26.359
This is the ultimate insult and
humiliation, to be beaten by a

30:26.359 --> 30:29.779
commoner after having been
betrayed by Rocinante.

30:29.778 --> 30:34.928
Rocinante just cannot really
move from a trot to a gallop

30:34.932 --> 30:39.082
without falling,
and you will see that similar

30:39.075 --> 30:42.015
things happen in the future.

30:42.019 --> 30:46.749
So Don Quixote is picked up by
Pedro Alonso--Notice the common

30:46.753 --> 30:50.953
names, Cervantes gives very
common names to very common

30:50.945 --> 30:51.795
people.

30:51.798 --> 30:54.378
Pedro Alonso is like being
called Peter Johnson or

30:54.382 --> 30:57.282
something like that-- So this
Pedro Alonso is one of his

30:57.281 --> 30:58.021
neighbors.

30:58.019 --> 31:02.829
He picks him up--and notice his
kindness not only picking up

31:02.825 --> 31:07.625
poor Alonso Quixano as he sees
his neighbor but also waiting

31:07.630 --> 31:12.760
until dark before going into the
village so that people will not

31:12.761 --> 31:16.021
see Don Quixote in this
condition.

31:16.019 --> 31:21.099
Again, it's an act of kindness
on the part of a very low class

31:21.099 --> 31:22.099
character.

31:22.098 --> 31:25.458
This is what I was saying
before about characters in

31:25.464 --> 31:29.164
Cervantes no matter what their
social class being able to

31:29.160 --> 31:31.470
perform these acts of kindness.

31:31.470 --> 31:34.780
There are echoes of the Good
Samaritan and so forth,

31:34.780 --> 31:37.900
and the Bible,
if you want to see biblical

31:37.896 --> 31:40.036
echoes in the Quixote.

31:40.038 --> 31:43.688
I have to tell you a brief
story, when a close relative of

31:43.690 --> 31:46.060
mine was in the hospital very
ill,

31:46.058 --> 31:49.238
and I used to go see him,
I used to spend the time

31:49.241 --> 31:51.841
sometimes reading the
Quixote,

31:51.838 --> 31:55.978
and I would get on the elevator
sometimes with my Quixote

31:55.976 --> 31:59.036
like this,
and there will be ministers who

31:59.035 --> 32:01.805
were also there to see dying
patients.

32:01.808 --> 32:04.398
Mostly, actually,
I should say,

32:04.403 --> 32:09.683
African-American ministers and
they would see me with the book

32:09.676 --> 32:13.996
and would nod as if
acknowledging that I was one of

32:14.000 --> 32:15.470
their kind.

32:15.470 --> 32:23.140
So, now Don Quixote is madder
than ever because of the beating

32:23.138 --> 32:30.178
he has been administered and he
begins to return home.

32:30.180 --> 32:35.270
Returns home are always
problematic.

32:35.269 --> 32:39.169
Presumably one is returning to
the familiar,

32:39.167 --> 32:42.977
to the canny,
but now the house is going to

32:42.976 --> 32:46.146
turn into a very uncanny place.

32:46.150 --> 32:49.650
It is the house,
one must remember,

32:49.654 --> 32:55.534
it's also the abode of the
books, it houses the books that

32:55.532 --> 33:00.072
are the source of Don Quixote's
madness.

33:00.068 --> 33:05.208
So it is the familiar,
the home, but also the place

33:05.209 --> 33:10.039
where the source of his madness
is contained.

33:10.038 --> 33:12.338
It is also the place of his
first battles,

33:12.338 --> 33:15.058
as we learn,
where he would get up in the

33:15.056 --> 33:19.196
middle of the night and begin
slashing with his sword and,

33:19.200 --> 33:22.430
as we will see in a minute and
as I'm sure you read,

33:22.430 --> 33:24.130
it is a very malleable place.

33:24.130 --> 33:30.990
This house changes as if the
canny were also the uncanny--

33:30.990 --> 33:34.150
I'm playing here,
the background of my commentary

33:34.153 --> 33:37.253
here is the great essay by Freud
on the uncanny,

33:37.250 --> 33:39.030
the unheimliche.

33:39.029 --> 33:44.429
His theory being that the
uncanny is the canny,

33:44.430 --> 33:47.040
the familiar,
becoming suddenly unfamiliar,

33:47.038 --> 33:50.348
not something totally
unfamiliar, but the familiar

33:50.348 --> 33:54.538
becoming suddenly unfamiliar and
this is what is happening here

33:54.536 --> 33:55.816
with his house.

33:55.818 --> 33:59.368
Houses and shelters,
inns, palaces,

33:59.368 --> 34:05.208
and all of those are very
important in the Quixote

34:05.214 --> 34:09.604
and I urge you to take notice of
them.

34:09.599 --> 34:13.859
Now, either here or after the
scrutiny is where the

34:13.858 --> 34:16.348
Quixote was going to end.

34:16.349 --> 34:18.979
According to one of the
theories that is contained in

34:21.463 --> 34:23.943
Pidal--
I will talk about the end of

34:23.938 --> 34:28.118
the scrutiny but this is a very
important point that I want to

34:28.119 --> 34:30.449
make today to speak about that.

34:30.449 --> 34:34.669
In any case,
this return home brings up the

34:34.668 --> 34:38.958
issue of repetition,
which leads the philosophical

34:38.961 --> 34:43.071
question of whether there can be
repetition and the aesthetic

34:43.065 --> 34:46.685
problem of representation
because representing is also

34:46.688 --> 34:50.448
always a form of repetition:
repeating something,

34:50.449 --> 34:56.269
and the issue of representation
is at the core of the questions

34:56.268 --> 35:01.988
about literature that Cervantes
brings up throughout the whole

35:01.994 --> 35:02.844
book.

35:02.840 --> 35:06.570
It also dovetails with Don
Quixote's own project to revive

35:06.574 --> 35:07.694
the heroic age.

35:07.690 --> 35:09.690
Can something be revived?

35:09.690 --> 35:12.850
Can it be repeated?

35:12.849 --> 35:17.519
The return also allows for a
fuller analysis of Don Quixote's

35:17.521 --> 35:18.301
madness.

35:18.300 --> 35:21.710
The housekeeper and the niece
relate adventures of Don

35:21.708 --> 35:24.088
Quixote's prior to his first
sally.

35:24.090 --> 35:26.980
The niece recounts how he would
read for two days and nights

35:26.981 --> 35:28.361
straight,
without rest,

35:28.356 --> 35:31.866
where upon he would draw his
sword and flail as in a battle

35:31.869 --> 35:33.019
until exhausted.

35:33.018 --> 35:38.828
That is, the return allows us
to learn more about the

35:38.827 --> 35:44.187
etiology, the origin of Don
Quixote's madness.

35:44.190 --> 35:47.830
The literary madness is not
sufficient for Cervantes,

35:47.829 --> 35:52.299
and so he seems to have the
need as--

35:52.300 --> 35:55.330
remember then I mentioned
Huarte de San Juan's book,

35:55.329 --> 35:58.389
the doctor that I mentioned,
who wrote Examen de

35:58.394 --> 36:02.134
ingenios, Cervantes
gives us some details about Don

36:02.134 --> 36:05.204
Quixote's physical qualities and
all of that,

36:05.199 --> 36:12.769
that make him prone to madness.

36:12.768 --> 36:14.808
For instance,
his thinness,

36:14.813 --> 36:18.433
the dryness of his skin,
a dry constitution.

36:18.429 --> 36:21.009
In the thearious,
humors of the time,

36:21.014 --> 36:23.104
the >

36:23.097 --> 36:26.467
of the time made him a
candidate for the kind of

36:26.474 --> 36:28.274
madness that he had.

36:28.268 --> 36:32.188
This is because Cervantes,
unlike Dante,

36:32.190 --> 36:36.910
whose Divine Comedy is
thoroughly allegorical,

36:36.909 --> 36:39.949
Cervantes only flirts with
allegory,

36:39.949 --> 36:41.689
but always seems to avoid it.

36:41.690 --> 36:44.830
What I mean is,
this is not an allegorical

36:44.833 --> 36:47.333
madman,
this is a particular madman

36:47.331 --> 36:50.631
with a specific illness,
not an every man who can easily

36:50.630 --> 36:52.310
be subsumed in the
"we"

36:52.313 --> 36:54.893
at the beginning of the
Divine Comedy,

36:54.889 --> 36:57.329
"Nel mezzo del cammin
de nostra vita..."

36:57.329 --> 37:02.039
'nostra vita,' in the
middle of a journey of our

37:02.043 --> 37:05.713
lives, this is,
this particular mad man.

37:05.710 --> 37:09.500
This is why all of these
details about his life at home

37:09.498 --> 37:11.888
are given,
his diet, and all of that,

37:11.889 --> 37:15.249
are details Cervantes has given
to justify to his madness.

37:15.250 --> 37:17.830
It's not just a literary
madness.

37:17.829 --> 37:22.959
Now, the book burning and the
walling of the library will be

37:22.956 --> 37:27.556
cures for Don Quixote's madness,
but both are also filled with

37:27.557 --> 37:29.007
all kinds of implications.

37:29.010 --> 37:34.530
But through both parts of the
novel, the characters will be

37:34.532 --> 37:38.152
searching for cures for Don
Quixote.

37:38.150 --> 37:41.740
And here, obviously,
the burning of the books and

37:41.742 --> 37:45.412
the walling of the library are a
part of the cure:

37:45.411 --> 37:49.831
you eliminate the source and
you eliminate the illness.

37:49.829 --> 37:53.039
Now, the inquisition of the
library,

37:53.039 --> 37:55.979
or the scrutiny of the library
is one of the most famous

37:55.976 --> 37:59.236
episodes in the Quixote,
and of course one the favorite

37:59.235 --> 38:01.635
ones of literary critics and
historians,

38:01.639 --> 38:06.509
because it deals with books.

38:06.510 --> 38:09.660
Again, it is conjecture that
the end of the library episode

38:09.661 --> 38:13.141
would have been the end of the
novella of Don Quixote,

38:13.139 --> 38:17.359
if indeed, what Cervantes
proposed to write was a long

38:17.358 --> 38:22.218
short story about this man who
goes mad from reading too much,

38:22.215 --> 38:23.245
etcetera.

38:23.250 --> 38:27.150
And then, this novella would
end here, and that would have

38:27.146 --> 38:27.826
been it.

38:27.829 --> 38:31.889
He wrote many of those short
novellas, he published twelve of

38:31.885 --> 38:34.425
them in 1613;
he called them Exemplary

38:34.425 --> 38:35.155
Stories.

38:35.159 --> 38:38.509
It is conjecture,
and you will read it in

38:43.628 --> 38:44.968
Quixote.

38:44.969 --> 38:50.679
And that Cervantes took stock
of the fact that the character

38:50.679 --> 38:56.389
and the situation had great
possibilities and continued from

38:56.389 --> 38:58.519
then on his novel.

38:58.518 --> 39:04.858
I'll get back to that in a
minute.

39:04.860 --> 39:12.820
The inquiry of the library is,
of course, a satire of the

39:12.822 --> 39:15.952
Spanish Inquisition.

39:15.949 --> 39:18.159
This is clear.

39:18.159 --> 39:21.879
The Spanish Inquisition also
forbid books,

39:21.878 --> 39:24.778
picked up books,
and burnt books,

39:24.780 --> 39:27.230
so it is a mild satire.

39:27.230 --> 39:33.290
Here the Inquisition is
represented by the niece who's

39:33.286 --> 39:37.266
nineteen years old,
the housekeeper,

39:37.271 --> 39:39.941
a village priest,
a barber,

39:39.940 --> 39:43.100
I mean, these are not exactly
high intellects,

39:43.099 --> 39:47.709
and the inquisition's officers
were...

39:47.710 --> 39:51.930
So, this is a satire in
Cervantes, even against menacing

39:51.934 --> 39:55.934
institutions like the
Inquisition, is always mild.

39:55.929 --> 40:01.289
It's always mild,
never very bitter.

40:01.289 --> 40:06.289
Now, details that are somewhat
important about the scrutiny of

40:06.288 --> 40:09.318
the library is that no book in
it,

40:09.320 --> 40:13.390
in the library,
was published after 1591,

40:13.389 --> 40:19.059
so that allows us to surmise
that the Quixote was

40:19.056 --> 40:21.216
written after 1591.

40:21.219 --> 40:24.999
The chapter is the bibliography
that Cervantes refused to

40:24.996 --> 40:26.746
provide in the prologue.

40:26.750 --> 40:30.760
Remember when his friend says,
you don't have to,

40:30.760 --> 40:35.190
you can make it up,
well, this is the bibliography.

40:35.190 --> 40:38.160
Of course, he couldn't have
given his bibliography in the

40:38.159 --> 40:41.449
prologue because a bibliography
made up of romances of chivalry

40:41.447 --> 40:43.567
is not a very authoritative
bibliography,

40:43.568 --> 40:44.468
as it were.

40:44.469 --> 40:46.719
It's not Aristotle,
Plato and St.

40:49.885 --> 40:50.795
so forth.

40:50.800 --> 40:56.890
So what he is giving here are
the sources of Don Quixote's

40:56.885 --> 41:02.325
madness and his protagonist's
literary genealogy.

41:02.329 --> 41:08.379
This is the family background
that he refuses to provide about

41:08.376 --> 41:11.346
Don Quixote's 'real family.'

41:11.349 --> 41:13.889
Now, what has Don Quixote read?

41:13.889 --> 41:18.509
Well, chivalric romances,
but also Renaissance epics,

41:18.514 --> 41:22.434
pastoral romances and some
serious poetry.

41:22.429 --> 41:26.439
What is missing from this
library?

41:26.440 --> 41:28.930
Student: Classics?

41:28.929 --> 41:33.659
Prof: Classics and
religious books.

41:33.659 --> 41:36.259
There are no devotional books
in this library,

41:36.260 --> 41:39.310
as one will find,
in the library of Diego de

41:39.309 --> 41:42.449
Miranda,
a character in the second part,

41:42.445 --> 41:45.405
who says that he has devotional
books.

41:45.409 --> 41:48.749
Now, of course,
most American readers are

41:48.751 --> 41:52.431
astonished that there is no
Bible,

41:52.429 --> 41:56.569
but this is Catholic Spain,
and in Catholic countries,

41:56.570 --> 41:58.710
we don't read the Bible.

41:58.710 --> 42:02.470
We read devotional books or
hear the Bible in sermons

42:02.469 --> 42:03.679
from the priests.

42:03.679 --> 42:06.779
So, of course,
if this were a library in New

42:06.784 --> 42:11.554
England or in Old England there
would have been a Bible,

42:11.550 --> 42:15.230
but no Bible here at
all, but no devotional books

42:15.228 --> 42:15.828
either.

42:15.829 --> 42:20.649
What this means is that Alonso
Quixano is a belated humanist,

42:20.650 --> 42:23.520
that is, a humanist that came
at the end of humanism,

42:23.518 --> 42:30.558
like Cervantes himself,
a Christian with a weakness for

42:30.559 --> 42:37.339
frivolous literature but not
very pious or devout.

42:37.340 --> 42:41.080
Although, it is true,
for a humanist there are no

42:41.077 --> 42:42.867
classics here either.

42:42.869 --> 42:46.529
There is very little poetry,
although Don Quixote throughout

42:46.527 --> 42:49.127
the novel seems to know a lot
about poetry,

42:49.132 --> 42:51.242
and even composes some poetry.

42:51.239 --> 42:54.239
There's nothing by the great
Garcilaso,

42:54.239 --> 42:58.509
the important Petrarchean style
poet of the sixteenth century in

42:58.510 --> 43:02.640
Spain who was a model of poets
and to whom Don Quixote alludes

43:02.643 --> 43:04.003
all of the time.

43:04.000 --> 43:05.910
Somehow, it is missing.

43:05.909 --> 43:10.759
This library does not give the
whole range of Cervantes'

43:10.760 --> 43:14.730
readings or even of Don
Quixote's reading,

43:14.730 --> 43:19.790
what prevail are the romances
of chivalry about which I spoke

43:19.791 --> 43:21.481
in the last class.

43:21.480 --> 43:25.760
For Don Quixote they
represented a world of absolute

43:25.755 --> 43:31.575
values in a fake past and place,
where there is no fissure,

43:31.583 --> 43:35.483
no break between the
imagination,

43:35.480 --> 43:38.240
desire and the real.

43:38.239 --> 43:44.299
Now, the fact is that very few
romances of chivalry appeared in

43:44.302 --> 43:46.162
Spain after 1565.

43:46.159 --> 43:51.349
Cervantes was born in 1547;
this book appears in 1605;

43:51.349 --> 43:54.589
the action supposedly takes
place in the 1590s.

43:54.590 --> 43:56.940
So, in this,
Don Quixote is also a bit out

43:56.936 --> 43:57.676
of fashion.

43:57.679 --> 44:01.539
These romances of chivalry seem
to be all ready out of fashion,

44:01.539 --> 44:05.599
but things move slowly,
and the fact is that many

44:05.601 --> 44:10.511
characters in the novel appear
to have read the romances of

44:10.510 --> 44:15.080
chivalry and to be very
conversant with the romances of

44:15.079 --> 44:16.349
chivalry.

44:16.349 --> 44:19.409
So, what else do we have?

44:19.411 --> 44:21.741
Pastoral romances.

44:21.739 --> 44:26.659
Pastoral romances were stories
of fake shepherds,

44:26.659 --> 44:31.599
people who play the role of
shepherds from the eclogues of

44:31.597 --> 44:36.357
antiquity involved in amorous
adventures in neo-Platonic

44:36.362 --> 44:40.472
fashion,
going through beautiful natural

44:40.469 --> 44:45.949
settings that corresponded to
the purity of their love,

44:45.949 --> 44:47.009
and this, that, and the other.

44:47.010 --> 44:49.090
They could lead to tragic
consequences,

44:49.090 --> 44:50.960
and this is,
as you will see,

44:54.159 --> 44:55.959
is coming up very soon.

44:55.960 --> 45:00.150
These pastoral romances,
I know, are the furthest away

45:00.153 --> 45:02.373
from a modern sensibility.

45:02.369 --> 45:06.979
One can imagine a modern
chivalric romance--

45:06.980 --> 45:09.430
I mentioned,
I talked about James Bond and

45:09.429 --> 45:11.699
the Fleming movies and all of
that--

45:11.699 --> 45:15.029
but it's almost impossible to
think of a modern pastoral.

45:15.030 --> 45:19.350
It's not impossible,
but very improbable.

45:19.349 --> 45:22.269
But this is one of the roles
that Don Quixote could have

45:22.269 --> 45:23.699
chosen to play,
and in fact,

45:23.704 --> 45:27.054
later on in the novel he will
try to become a shepherd too.

45:27.050 --> 45:30.410
He will think of becoming a
shepherd too.

45:30.409 --> 45:37.839
Now, whom does Cervantes
surprisingly include among the

45:37.842 --> 45:42.662
authors in Don Quixote's
library?

45:42.659 --> 45:50.299
Cervantes himself!

45:50.300 --> 45:53.140
La Galatea,
Jarvis writes,

45:53.144 --> 45:56.674
Michael de Cervantes:
"...said the barber,

45:56.666 --> 46:00.106
that Cervantes has been a great
friend of mine these many years

46:00.106 --> 46:03.436
and I know that he is better
acquainted with misfortunes than

46:03.436 --> 46:04.376
with poetry.

46:04.380 --> 46:08.100
His book has somewhat of good
invention in it [He's talking

46:08.099 --> 46:11.689
about Cervantes's pastoral
romance La Galatea].

46:11.690 --> 46:14.220
He proposes something but
concludes nothing.

46:14.219 --> 46:17.199
We must wait for the second
part which he promises,

46:17.197 --> 46:21.127
perhaps on his amendment he may
obtain that entire part..."

46:21.130 --> 46:23.080
So forth and so on.

46:23.079 --> 46:29.299
So this is a wink of Cervantes
to the reader in which he's

46:29.297 --> 46:36.277
inviting us to sort of fall in
the same error as Don Quixote,

46:36.280 --> 46:38.640
blurring literature and reality.

46:38.639 --> 46:41.889
This is what happens when
Cervantes, the author whose name

46:41.891 --> 46:45.491
is imprinted on the cover of the
book appears within the fiction

46:45.487 --> 46:48.407
of the book;
the distinction between fiction

46:48.411 --> 46:50.991
and reality,
between fiction and reality is

46:50.985 --> 46:54.195
blurred,
and Cervantes is intimating

46:54.204 --> 47:02.774
that the reading of literature,
in general, can lead to such

47:02.771 --> 47:04.861
confusion.

47:04.860 --> 47:08.700
All of this,
as I will explain in a minute

47:08.701 --> 47:12.921
always self referential things
are very funny,

47:12.916 --> 47:17.036
but they have behind very
serious ideas.

47:17.039 --> 47:24.389
Now, notice also the irony that
both the priest and the barber

47:24.394 --> 47:29.584
are steeped in the romances of
chivalry,

47:29.579 --> 47:32.279
too, they are readers of the
romances of chivalry.

47:32.280 --> 47:35.410
They know them very well,
they defend some,

47:35.413 --> 47:39.743
and the priest speaks of having
even begun to write one.

47:39.739 --> 47:44.829
We will find more readers of
the romances of chivalry and

47:44.829 --> 47:50.009
more potential writers of
romances of chivalry through the

47:50.010 --> 47:50.920
novel.

47:50.920 --> 47:56.050
And notice, the elaborate lie
that the niece comes up with to

47:56.054 --> 48:01.024
explain the disappearance of the
library from the house.

48:01.018 --> 48:05.328
It is as astonishing a fantasy
as Don Quixote's,

48:05.326 --> 48:10.816
so maybe it runs in the family:
An old man riding a snake who

48:10.824 --> 48:13.394
leaves a trail of smoke.

48:13.389 --> 48:19.739
I hope you noticed this
marvelous passage where the

48:19.742 --> 48:25.712
niece says--well,
the innkeeper says that it was

48:25.711 --> 48:30.591
a devil that carted it:
"'It was not the devil'

48:30.588 --> 48:33.878
said the niece,
on page 55, 'but an enchanter,

48:33.878 --> 48:36.698
who came one night upon a
cloud,

48:36.699 --> 48:41.069
after the day of your departure
[she's addressing Don Quixote]

48:41.074 --> 48:43.784
hence,
and alighting from a serpent on

48:43.777 --> 48:46.377
which he rode,
entered into the room;

48:46.380 --> 48:49.910
and I know not what he did
there, but after some little

48:49.907 --> 48:52.647
time, out he came,
flying through the roof,

48:52.652 --> 48:55.072
and left the house full of
smoke;

48:55.070 --> 48:58.210
and when we went to see what he
had been doing,

48:58.206 --> 49:03.046
we saw neither books nor room;
only we very well remember,

49:03.052 --> 49:06.902
both I and mistress housekeeper
here,

49:06.900 --> 49:09.230
that when the old thief went
away, he said,

49:09.230 --> 49:12.260
with a loud voice,
that, for a secret enmity he

49:12.257 --> 49:15.677
bore to the owner of those books
and of the room,

49:15.679 --> 49:17.779
he had done a mischief in this
house,

49:17.780 --> 49:20.800
which should soon be manifest:
he told us also,

49:26.909 --> 49:30.419
Don Quixote,
of course, doesn't question the

49:30.420 --> 49:35.400
reality, he just questions the
mispronunciation of the name of

49:35.400 --> 49:36.870
the enchanter.

49:36.869 --> 49:39.239
What does it mean that the
niece should tell this lie?

49:39.239 --> 49:42.649
The physical disappearance of
the library walled off by the

49:42.648 --> 49:46.348
housekeeper and the niece is an
instance of the world of reality

49:46.351 --> 49:49.291
conspiring to increase Don
Quixote's madness,

49:49.289 --> 49:52.049
and of the uncanny,
the familiar,

49:52.048 --> 49:56.838
the house,
becoming unfamiliar.

49:56.840 --> 50:01.180
He came and began looking for
the room, and running his hands

50:01.175 --> 50:04.205
on the walls and couldn't find
the door.

50:04.210 --> 50:07.320
It has been said that there is
a contradiction in this action

50:07.315 --> 50:10.565
of walling off the library when
there are no longer any books in

50:10.574 --> 50:14.544
it,
but Don Quixote does not know

50:14.541 --> 50:16.971
this,
and also it would have been

50:16.969 --> 50:20.459
difficult to explain to him that
the books had been burned or

50:20.456 --> 50:21.266
given away.

50:21.269 --> 50:22.369
They were burned.

50:22.369 --> 50:26.749
They were his property,
so they have committed a

50:26.746 --> 50:28.326
punishable act.

50:28.329 --> 50:30.879
The barber, the priest,
the niece and the housekeeper

50:30.878 --> 50:33.278
are covering their own actions
with a fiction,

50:33.280 --> 50:37.000
a lie, embellished by the
niece's wild imagination,

50:37.000 --> 50:41.560
which is contaminated by the
romances of chivalry themselves.

50:41.559 --> 50:44.259
This reveals,
notice that Cervantes doesn't

50:44.255 --> 50:47.715
tell us that she's a reader of
romances of chivalry.

50:47.719 --> 50:51.119
We learn through this speech of
hers that she is a reader of

50:51.117 --> 50:55.337
romances of chivalry,
and that she suggests that she

50:55.344 --> 51:00.754
too read these romances probably
sneaking into her uncle's

51:00.751 --> 51:04.831
library and reading them there
secretly.

51:04.829 --> 51:09.989
You see how much Cervantes can
suggest without saying it

51:09.987 --> 51:11.017
directly?

51:11.018 --> 51:15.798
Now, a more significant
contradiction is that while the

51:15.797 --> 51:19.867
library is walled off and the
books burned,

51:19.869 --> 51:23.909
the characters continue to
speak to Don Quixote from within

51:23.909 --> 51:25.789
the fictions of chivalry.

51:25.789 --> 51:29.769
They both cure and make him
more insane, or they try to cure

51:29.769 --> 51:33.679
him because they realize that he
can only be spoken to from

51:33.682 --> 51:35.642
within his own mad world.

51:40.097 --> 51:44.757
who unfortunately passed away
about a year ago,

51:44.760 --> 51:48.020
says that:
"Don Quixote is enveloped

51:48.023 --> 51:51.573
by a written context,
a literary genre that reminds

51:51.572 --> 51:55.312
of chivalry which to him was
historically true,

51:55.309 --> 51:58.019
structured by potential
adventures that await him

51:58.018 --> 52:00.168
unforeseen,
but appropriate by virtue of

52:00.172 --> 52:01.052
that genre."

52:01.050 --> 52:05.450
Because after this Don Quixote
does not read another book,

52:05.449 --> 52:08.839
he doesn't even read the book
about himself,

52:08.840 --> 52:13.120
as the character's in Part II,
do--When you get to Part II,

52:13.119 --> 52:19.049
one of the fun parts of Part II
is that the characters that the

52:19.045 --> 52:23.055
protagonist encounter have read
Part I,

52:23.059 --> 52:28.219
and they expect Don Quixote to
act according to how he acted in

52:28.217 --> 52:31.867
Part I,
but Don Quixote has not read it.

52:31.869 --> 52:35.549
Alas, Sancho hasn't either,
of course, because he can't

52:35.552 --> 52:39.782
read--But Don Quixote does not
read another book after this.

52:39.780 --> 52:44.410
Now, Sancho enters the scene,
he represents European

52:44.405 --> 52:47.395
peasantry from time immemorial.

52:47.400 --> 52:50.940
Sancho, by the way,
is a very common peasant type

52:50.936 --> 52:55.426
of name--The only one I can come
up in English is 'Wilbur'.

52:55.429 --> 52:59.809
I think that a farmer in
English would be called Wilbur.

52:59.809 --> 53:03.629
I mean, in Snuffy Smith,
remember that comic strip?

53:03.630 --> 53:06.240
I would imagine someone being
called Wilbur,

53:06.239 --> 53:08.029
I don't know why,
but that's why I imagine--

53:08.030 --> 53:10.670
Sancho is a very,
very common name,

53:10.670 --> 53:20.820
it gives us--Chalk always
eludes me--

53:23.311 --> 53:25.461
Spanish,
that many of you have heard,

53:25.458 --> 53:25.978
I'm sure.

53:27.469 --> 53:31.999
In fact, when it has that,
of course, you need the accent.

53:32.000 --> 53:35.510
Spanish names,
that means, 'belonging to the

53:35.512 --> 53:39.272
family of Sancho,' like
John-son, David-son.

53:39.268 --> 53:41.768
The '–ez' in Spanish,
'Gonzalo' becomes

53:48.018 --> 53:52.708
I told you were going to learn
tidbits about Spanish culture,

53:52.711 --> 53:54.121
and there's one.

53:54.119 --> 53:56.599
How Spanish,
not all Spanish last names,

53:56.596 --> 53:59.386
how this common Spanish last
name, like mine,

54:03.760 --> 54:08.630
'Panza' means,
what?

54:08.626 --> 54:11.056
Belly, gut.

54:11.059 --> 54:18.569
It refers to his eating habits
and to his being very much in

54:18.574 --> 54:23.164
touch with matter,
with the earth.

54:23.159 --> 54:25.519
Now, of course,
he represents common sense in

54:25.516 --> 54:28.296
contrast to Don Quixote's
flights of fancy and I mean

54:28.302 --> 54:30.822
common sense,
a sense of the common people.

54:30.820 --> 54:33.280
Whereas Don Quixote is a
voracious reader,

54:33.280 --> 54:34.660
Sancho is illiterate.

54:34.659 --> 54:38.729
He has in his head all of the
oral lore.

54:38.730 --> 54:44.420
However, he expresses this
through his 'refranes' or

54:44.422 --> 54:48.472
proverbs--
as you will see soon--proverbs

54:48.469 --> 54:53.159
that are the source of folk
wisdom that fascinated

54:53.159 --> 54:55.959
humanists,
by the way, because they

54:55.958 --> 54:59.258
thought that the proverbs,
the refranes,

54:59.262 --> 55:03.192
were a form of common
philosophy of the people,

55:03.190 --> 55:07.020
and that that philosophy could
potentially contain as much

55:07.018 --> 55:09.098
wisdom as regular philosophy.

55:09.099 --> 55:10.289
There is the "Book of
Proverbs"

55:10.286 --> 55:16.356
in the Bible,
and philosophers have used such

55:16.358 --> 55:20.238
snippets,
like La Roche Foucauld in

55:20.237 --> 55:23.147
France, in the seventeenth
century,

55:23.150 --> 55:27.610
who wrote Maximes,
maxims.

55:30.789 --> 55:33.589
Virtue is nothing but vice
disguised,"

55:33.592 --> 55:36.532
said La Roche Foucauld in his
first maxim.

55:36.530 --> 55:40.940
Nietzsche wrote such short
snippets, too,

55:40.938 --> 55:47.328
but these are the common
people's expressions of wisdom.

55:47.329 --> 55:51.309
Sancho will repeat them over
and over again until he drives

55:51.309 --> 55:55.699
Don Quixote madder because of
them, he can't take it any more.

55:55.699 --> 55:59.449
Now, in terms of literary
history, Sancho issues from the

55:59.454 --> 56:01.534
world of comedy,
of the theater,

56:01.534 --> 56:04.624
of the picaresque and of
Celestina.

56:04.619 --> 56:07.529
Some who have wanted to do an
allegorical reading of the

56:07.534 --> 56:10.844
Quixote see it,
the pair, as an allegory of

56:10.842 --> 56:13.232
mind and body,
Don Quixote,

56:13.230 --> 56:15.660
the mind, Sancho the body.

56:15.659 --> 56:20.139
But the most remarkable thing
is that, with his appearance,

56:20.137 --> 56:24.607
the novel's world becomes one
of dialogue, dialogue between

56:24.614 --> 56:26.704
Sancho and Don Quixote.

56:26.699 --> 56:30.509
Now, what is most significant
about Sancho--

56:30.510 --> 56:35.420
and this will become even more
evident in Part II--

56:35.420 --> 56:38.550
is that, without readings or
refinement,

56:38.550 --> 56:43.990
he is nevertheless endowed with
sufficient wisdom to live and

56:43.985 --> 56:46.245
make valuable judgment.

56:46.250 --> 56:48.840
Common sense,
sense of the common people,

56:48.844 --> 56:51.054
as a sufficient quality of
mind;

56:51.050 --> 56:55.370
this is a quite modern idea
leading up to democratic and

56:55.371 --> 56:59.851
egalitarian notions that do not
reach full flier until the

56:59.853 --> 57:03.393
Enlightenment in the eighteenth
century,

57:03.389 --> 57:07.849
and in philosopher's like
Rousseau.

57:07.849 --> 57:12.699
Sancho transcends his
limitations and indeed

57:12.695 --> 57:17.875
influences his master in his
attitudes and--

57:17.880 --> 57:20.840
you will see--he engages in
dialogue with Don Quixote and,

57:20.840 --> 57:25.330
although respectful,
he holds his ground because he

57:25.327 --> 57:28.287
has sufficient wisdom to do so.

57:28.289 --> 57:35.809
So with Sancho,
the novel seems to be complete,

57:35.809 --> 57:44.309
the cast is complete,
and the second sally will begin

57:44.307 --> 57:45.777
here.

57:45.780 --> 57:49.320
And the second sally is where
the Quixote, as we know

57:49.320 --> 57:50.520
it, really begins.

57:50.518 --> 57:53.988
If it was going to be a short
story and Cervantes extended it

57:53.989 --> 57:57.109
to become the Quixote,
it is here that the

57:57.108 --> 57:59.128
Quixote as we know it
begins,

57:59.130 --> 58:00.880
with Sancho in place.

58:00.880 --> 58:05.010
So, in a sense,
Don Quixote is its own

58:05.012 --> 58:08.302
source, again,
self legitimation.

58:08.300 --> 58:12.730
Now, the adventure of the
windmills--I have a little bit

58:12.726 --> 58:17.306
more--This is a signature
episode of the Quixote as

58:17.313 --> 58:18.363
you know.

58:18.360 --> 58:20.620
You have seen it everywhere,
represented everywhere.

58:20.619 --> 58:23.229
You go to the Barajas Airport,
in Madrid,

58:23.230 --> 58:26.950
and you will find a thousand
little trinkets that you can buy

58:26.954 --> 58:29.874
with the windmills and Don
Quixote and so forth.

58:29.873 --> 58:30.373
Why?

58:30.369 --> 58:34.469
It's the first adventure where
the two characters disagree

58:34.474 --> 58:37.504
about the nature of what is
being seen,

58:37.500 --> 58:46.110
it is tremendously funny,
it has one of the most

58:46.114 --> 58:50.074
tremendous,
one of the funniest lines in

58:50.068 --> 58:51.208
the whole book for me.

58:51.210 --> 58:54.790
When Don Quixote says,
look at those giants and he

58:54.791 --> 59:01.011
goes on and on about the giants,
and, with a pause that a good

59:01.005 --> 59:05.865
comic would be able to use,
Sancho says,

59:05.865 --> 59:08.375
"What giants?"

59:08.380 --> 59:09.760
He doesn't see any giants.

59:09.760 --> 59:12.270
He sees windmills.

59:12.268 --> 59:20.288
So Don Quixote charges,
and with a catastrophic result

59:20.289 --> 59:22.709
that you know.

59:22.710 --> 59:27.060
Now, there are other things
that are important about this

59:27.057 --> 59:27.677
scene.

59:27.679 --> 59:33.679
It sets the four-part structure
of most scenes that will follow.

59:33.679 --> 59:36.369
One, Don Quixote and Sancho see
something;

59:36.369 --> 59:38.689
two, they argue about what it
is;

59:38.690 --> 59:43.910
three, Don Quixote takes action;
four, they discuss in the

59:43.907 --> 59:48.287
aftermath of the adventure what
it was.

59:48.289 --> 59:54.639
And there is that moment,
also, when Don Quixote says

59:54.643 --> 1:00:00.633
something quite profound after
this adventure,

1:00:00.630 --> 1:00:07.900
in trying to explain how the
giants became windmills.

1:00:07.900 --> 1:00:10.940
He says: "'Peace,
friend'--[page 60]--'Peace,

1:00:10.940 --> 1:00:13.360
friend Sancho,' answered Don
Quixote;

1:00:13.360 --> 1:00:16.420
'for matters of war are,
of all others,

1:00:16.422 --> 1:00:20.132
most subject to continual
mutations.'"

1:00:20.130 --> 1:00:24.310
What Don Quixote is saying is
quite profound is that reality

1:00:24.309 --> 1:00:26.009
is in a state of flux.

1:00:26.010 --> 1:00:30.080
So things may appear to be
something now and be something

1:00:30.077 --> 1:00:32.037
different a moment later.

1:00:32.039 --> 1:00:36.749
So his interpretation is not
foolish at all.

1:00:36.750 --> 1:00:39.630
He also alludes back to the
disappearance of his library,

1:00:39.630 --> 1:00:41.380
I mean, these things can
happen.

1:00:41.380 --> 1:00:46.780
Hey, if my library can
disappear, these giants can

1:00:46.784 --> 1:00:51.534
become windmills and I could be
unseated.

1:00:51.530 --> 1:00:58.140
Now, the next two episodes are
very interesting,

1:00:58.143 --> 1:01:06.163
and one is the fight with what
Jarvis calls the Biscainer,

1:01:06.163 --> 1:01:09.543
a Basque, Biscainer.

1:01:09.539 --> 1:01:12.689
These are people from the
Basque country.

1:01:12.690 --> 1:01:19.100
The Basque's occupy parts of
Spain and of France,

1:01:19.099 --> 1:01:23.679
a very proud people because
they presumably were never

1:01:23.679 --> 1:01:25.069
invaded--
First of all,

1:01:25.068 --> 1:01:26.758
they have been there since the
beginning of time;

1:01:26.760 --> 1:01:30.110
their language cannot be traced
back to Indo-European sources,

1:01:30.108 --> 1:01:32.138
they don't know where it came
from.

1:01:32.139 --> 1:01:34.169
They're there,
and the Romans couldn't take

1:01:34.170 --> 1:01:35.660
them over,
and the Arabs couldn't take

1:01:35.664 --> 1:01:37.694
them over,
so they're very proud of that,

1:01:37.693 --> 1:01:40.823
and they're very proud of their
aristocratic background.

1:01:40.820 --> 1:01:42.330
I know about this because my
family,

1:01:45.150 --> 1:01:49.500
name,
so even today they are a

1:01:49.496 --> 1:01:52.766
frightening people.

1:01:52.768 --> 1:01:56.038
There is this group called ETA,
that you may have heard,

1:01:56.036 --> 1:01:56.686
in Spain.

1:01:56.690 --> 1:02:02.760
It is a separatist terrorist
group that blows up things and

1:02:02.755 --> 1:02:04.925
kills people,
and so forth,

1:02:04.931 --> 1:02:07.051
and both the Spanish and the
French government have been

1:02:07.052 --> 1:02:08.482
fighting them because the
Basque,

1:02:08.480 --> 1:02:12.480
this group, want autonomy from
Spain and France,

1:02:12.480 --> 1:02:15.380
they want their own country--So
this is the background.

1:02:15.380 --> 1:02:19.870
This is the first of several
characters you're going to meet

1:02:19.869 --> 1:02:23.369
in the book from regions other
than Castile.

1:02:23.369 --> 1:02:28.189
Remember, Spain is made up of
several regions,

1:02:28.190 --> 1:02:31.860
several cultures and languages,
and the Basque are the furthest

1:02:31.862 --> 1:02:35.472
away from other cultures in the
Spanish peninsula because they

1:02:35.474 --> 1:02:37.494
don't have a Roman background.

1:02:37.489 --> 1:02:42.469
Their language has nothing to
do with Romance languages,

1:02:42.469 --> 1:02:46.969
and hence he speaks funny,
and part of the humor in this

1:02:46.967 --> 1:02:51.217
episode is the way he speaks
very broken Spanish,

1:02:51.219 --> 1:02:57.329
and how he acts with a sense of
self assurance and haughtiness,

1:02:57.329 --> 1:03:02.079
and so forth,
because he is Basque.

1:03:02.079 --> 1:03:05.299
I am going to stop there and
read just a couple of things

1:03:05.295 --> 1:03:08.565
from the background readings
because I want to speak about

1:03:08.567 --> 1:03:11.947
the lost and found manuscript
and all of that in relation to

1:03:11.954 --> 1:03:15.404
the self reflectiveness in the
novel and all of that,

1:03:15.400 --> 1:03:19.250
and I don't want to do it at
the end when you and I are

1:03:19.248 --> 1:03:19.818
tired.

1:03:19.820 --> 1:03:27.810
I wanted you to consider--this
is a way of encouraging you to

1:03:27.811 --> 1:03:32.741
read Elliot Imperial
Spain--

1:03:32.739 --> 1:03:38.499
this contrast that Elliot sets
up here between Castile and

1:03:38.498 --> 1:03:41.238
Aragon:
"The crown of Aragon,

1:03:41.244 --> 1:03:45.124
therefore, with its rich and
energetic urban patriciate was

1:03:45.115 --> 1:03:48.645
deeply influenced by its
overseas commercial interests

1:03:48.652 --> 1:03:50.992
[mostly in the Mediterranean].

1:03:50.989 --> 1:03:53.999
It was imbued with a
contractural concept of the

1:03:53.998 --> 1:03:57.388
relationship between kings and
subjects which had been

1:03:57.389 --> 1:04:00.719
effectively realized in
institutional form and it was

1:04:00.719 --> 1:04:04.239
well experienced in the
administration of empire.

1:04:04.239 --> 1:04:06.769
[They still are,
the Catalans are very good

1:04:06.773 --> 1:04:07.683
businessmen].

1:04:07.679 --> 1:04:13.409
In all of these respects it
contrasted strikingly with

1:04:13.405 --> 1:04:17.835
medieval Castile [from which
Isabel, came,

1:04:17.835 --> 1:04:20.315
Isabel, the queen].

1:04:20.320 --> 1:04:23.740
Where in the early fourteenth
century the crown of Aragon was

1:04:23.742 --> 1:04:27.052
cosmopolitan in outlook and
predominantly mercantile in its

1:04:27.052 --> 1:04:30.312
inclinations,
contemporary Castile tended to

1:04:30.313 --> 1:04:34.793
look inwards,
rather than outwards. [Inwards].

1:04:34.789 --> 1:04:39.199
And was oriented less towards
trade than war.

1:04:39.199 --> 1:04:42.489
Fundamentally,
Castile was a pastoral and

1:04:42.487 --> 1:04:47.417
nomadic society whose habits and
attitudes had been shaped by

1:04:47.420 --> 1:04:50.630
constant warfare,
[against the Moors],

1:04:50.630 --> 1:04:54.410
by the protracted process of
the Reconquista,

1:04:54.409 --> 1:04:57.829
[the re-conquest],
still awaiting completion long

1:04:57.831 --> 1:05:01.611
after it was finished in the
crown of Aragon."

1:05:01.610 --> 1:05:05.900
The point that I want to
suggest here is there's an echo

1:05:05.896 --> 1:05:11.116
of this nomadic war like quality
of Castile in the novel itself,

1:05:11.119 --> 1:05:13.489
where the characters are on the
move.

1:05:13.489 --> 1:05:16.179
Don Quixote and Sancho and all
of the other characters who are

1:05:16.181 --> 1:05:16.801
on the move.

1:05:16.800 --> 1:05:22.260
This is a reflection of this
character of Castilian society

1:05:22.262 --> 1:05:25.092
as Elliot describes it here.

1:05:25.090 --> 1:05:28.170
This is just to give you an
idea of how productive the

1:05:28.173 --> 1:05:30.563
reading of Elliot can be for
this book.

1:05:30.559 --> 1:05:35.389
The other text that I want to
read is from Manuel

1:05:40.320 --> 1:05:43.130
that is at the beginning of the
Casebook.

1:05:43.130 --> 1:05:47.700
Now, this is just a very brief
life of Cervantes.

1:05:47.699 --> 1:05:50.799
One cannot go much further,
even though that have been many

1:05:50.800 --> 1:05:53.260
biographies, because there are
no documents.

1:05:53.260 --> 1:05:55.520
There are very few documents to
be found now.

1:05:55.518 --> 1:05:58.718
Of course, there were more,
much more documents in

1:05:58.721 --> 1:06:01.601
Shakespeare's case,
but nothing knew has been

1:06:01.596 --> 1:06:02.246
found.

1:06:02.250 --> 1:06:06.870
And I think that what is
important, two things are

1:06:10.920 --> 1:06:13.370
One, he suggests more than says
it,

1:06:13.369 --> 1:06:15.839
Cervantes, I think I've
mentioned this before,

1:06:15.840 --> 1:06:19.340
belongs to the first generation
of writers who are professional

1:06:19.335 --> 1:06:19.895
writers.

1:06:19.900 --> 1:06:23.550
Before you had aristocrats and
you had the clergy,

1:06:23.552 --> 1:06:28.102
who could write because they
had the leisure time to do it.

1:06:28.099 --> 1:06:32.969
They were idle readers and
writers.

1:06:32.969 --> 1:06:34.399
Not Cervantes.

1:06:34.398 --> 1:06:39.598
Cervantes depends on
aristocrats in the old style of

1:06:39.601 --> 1:06:43.991
the mecenas who gives you
money,

1:06:43.989 --> 1:06:47.699
but it was very unsuccessful
that way and it was very poor,

1:06:47.699 --> 1:06:51.709
and the publishers swindled him
out of money,

1:06:51.710 --> 1:06:54.050
and he was poor,
and he worked,

1:06:54.047 --> 1:06:56.047
and was in jail,
and so forth,

1:06:56.052 --> 1:06:57.502
as you have read in that
statement.

1:06:57.500 --> 1:07:00.190
He was in jail for his accounts
were not too clear in what he

1:07:00.188 --> 1:07:02.338
was doing as a tax collector,
and all of that.

1:07:02.340 --> 1:07:04.970
So these are the first
professional writers.

1:07:04.969 --> 1:07:09.639
And the second point is even
more important,

1:07:09.641 --> 1:07:15.621
which is about how Cervantes
was both inside and outside

1:07:15.617 --> 1:07:17.787
Spanish society.

1:07:24.690 --> 1:07:27.910
teaches us anything,
it is that he was at the same

1:07:27.905 --> 1:07:30.965
time inside and
outside the mainstream of

1:07:30.971 --> 1:07:31.881
Spanish life.

1:07:31.880 --> 1:07:36.160
As an insider he took part in
the Battle of Lepanto and wrote

1:07:36.159 --> 1:07:40.149
at least two successful books,
Don Quixote and the

1:07:40.152 --> 1:07:42.152
Exemplary Novels.

1:07:42.150 --> 1:07:45.990
This is certainly much more
than the level of achievement of

1:07:45.989 --> 1:07:48.659
most middle-class hidalgos of
his time.

1:07:48.659 --> 1:07:54.169
As an outsider he was always
poor--almost to the point of

1:07:54.172 --> 1:07:58.902
being destitute--and not
infrequently in jail;

1:07:58.900 --> 1:08:03.170
he lacked influential friends
in a society where nothing could

1:08:03.170 --> 1:08:06.040
be done without them and without
money;

1:08:06.039 --> 1:08:10.759
he was often unable to protect
adequately the female members of

1:08:10.760 --> 1:08:13.000
his family;
the influential critics and

1:08:12.998 --> 1:08:15.538
writers of his time did not
recognize the quality of his

1:08:15.539 --> 1:08:17.519
work;
his accomplishments as a

1:08:17.524 --> 1:08:21.224
soldier and as a loyal member of
the Administration were

1:08:21.221 --> 1:08:23.991
ignored--
while his every minor

1:08:23.993 --> 1:08:27.923
transgression was punished
harshly."

1:08:27.920 --> 1:08:32.810
This is a good point about
Cervantes, this figure who's

1:08:32.813 --> 1:08:38.433
both inside and outside society
and hence can provide this deep

1:08:38.431 --> 1:08:40.971
probe into that society.

1:08:40.970 --> 1:08:46.000