Cervantes Don Quixote [Paperback]

Anthony Close's study places Don Quixote in the context of Cervantes' life and literary career, and in the book's cultural and social background. It focuses primarily on the central problems of Cervantine comedy, the use of burlesque, the presentation of characters through dialogue, the narrator's viewpoint, the virtuoso play with registers, and the complex and elusive irony. Using detailed analysis of individual passages, Dr Close shows how the moral themes of the novel are distilled in its humour, and in the characters of Don Quixote and Sancho. He also gives particular attention to the impact of this landmark text on the development of the European novel.Chronology; Preface; Part I. Don Quixote's Premises, Structure Themes, and Basic Burlesque Methods: 1. Critical approaches; background; Cervantes's motives; 2. The basic burlesque formula; 3. The narrator's persona; 4. Empathetic parody; comic and satiric modes; 5. Form of Part I; its episodes; 6. Common nature; 7. Form of Part II; its episodes; Part II. The Personalities of Quixote and Sancho:1. Development through conversation; 2. Quixote's burlesque character; 3. The Sanchification of Panza; 4. Paradoxes of Part II; Quixote's disillusionment; 5. Quixote and Dulcinea; Part III. Don Quixote as Landmark; Guide to further reading.