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His words still shape our consciousness, even if we fail to read him. This is not due to some hackneyed idealism (“tilting at windmills”), but rather to his pervasive impact on the genre that taught us to think like moderns: the novel. He pioneered the representation of individual subjectivity and aspiration, which today undergirds the construction of agency in any narrative, whether in novels, films, television, or the daily self-fashioning by millions of users of social media.
Despite fierce winds, piles of snow, and the biting cold, winter is the best season for some cozy reading (and drinking hot chocolate). If you’re inclined to stay in today, check out these favorite classics of ours that will take you on wild adventures, all while huddled underneath your sheets.
What starts out as a bet to settle an argument between club members transforms into a grand adventure. It is fascinating, fast-paced, and enchanting, and brings you around the world in just eighty days!
In following the journey of Alonso Quixano, we find ourselves both amused and sad at the protagonist’s delusion of the world around him. The satirical elements of Don Quixote have permeated our modern literary culture and vocabulary: the term “quixotic” describes one who is too idealistic.
Jealousy, revenge, romance, hope, and justice flavor this jam-packed classic. After being thrown into jail for accused treason, Edmond Dantès only escapes after his fellow prisoner discloses the location of a vast wealth on the island of Monte Cristo. Once Dantès retrieves the hidden treasure, he poses as the Count of Monte Cristo and thus begins his plot of revenge against the men who put him away.
From the land of people no larger than six inches tall, to the land of horse people called Houyhnhnms, Lemuel Gulliver finds himself in lands like no other. His travels are sparked by (what we assume to be) a mid-life crisis, when his business fails. In a number of expeditions, Gulliver takes to the seas in a wanderlust sort of way, visiting his wife and children in between travels.
In this six-part adventure, Jim Hawkins narrates his journey from the death of a patron at his family’s inn — leaving behind a map and other clues pointing to buried treasure — to encounters with pirates on the high seas. Treasure Island captivates with its simple, yet lively prose. It’s a coming-of-age story for anyone at any age.
Athos, Porthos, and Aramis—the three musketeers—join up with a young noble named d’Artagnan, who seems to find trouble for himself. In this riveting tale full of assassination attempts, a scandalous love affair, and revenge, there is also fierce loyalty, camaraderie, and energy among the four musketeers.
Headline image credit: Irving Johnson. Original photo courtesy of Glenn Batuyong, Port of San Diego. CC BY 2.0 via Flickr.
Today the Random House Twitter feed took the popular “undatable” topic and collected examples of undatable literary characters at the new Undateable In Lit hashtag.
Here’s the tweet referencing a classic character from Charles Dickens‘ Great Expectations: “Let’s give ‘undateable” a bookish twist. We’ll start: wearing a wedding dress every day since being left at the altar. #UndateableInLit”
Add your undatable character to the Undateable In Lit hashtag. We’ve added Don Quixote–an undatable literary character who wears armor, wrecks windmills and spends too much time playing LARP games. Follow these links to read free eBook versions of Great Expectations or Don Quixote.
Sculpture in Toledo of Miguel de Cervantes by Oscar Alvariño.
Photographer: Francisco Javier Martín
La Bloga recently reviewed Tom Miller's Revenge of the Saguaro: Offbeat Travels Through America’s Southwest. This is Tom's first guest spot at La Bloga.
Tom Miller
All together now: “En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor.” If you don’t recognize those forty-one words, go to the back of the class. The rest of you can identify the opening line from Don Quixote de la Mancha, the world’s best-loved and most translated novel. Since its initial publication in the early seventeenth century (in two parts; 1605 and 1615) the Quixote has been considered the first modern novel and its author Miguel de Cervantes has come to symbolized the Spanish language. If you grew up in a Spanish-speaking country you likely can recite those forty-one words in your sleep.
Ground zero for Cervantes, of course, is Madrid, where he lived off and on, and died April 23, 1616. William Shakespeare, who symbolized another language, died April 23, 1616 as well. In those days Spain followed one calendar while England used another, so although Miguel de Cervantes’ and William Shakespeare died the same date, they did not die the same day. (Or, as I explain to friends in Tucson, one followed the calendar from El Charro, and the other, from Mi Nidito.)
April 23 has evolved into El Día del Libro in Spain, a very literary day on which the King awards the annual Cervantes Prize for outstanding work in the Spanish language, and kiosks and big displays of books line the streets of Madrid, Barcelona, and elsewhere. (In Barcelona, it’s Sant Jordi day, which, in addition to celebrating books, includes giving a rose to a lover or someone you’d like to be a lover. Books and lovers; I ask you, could there be a more fertile combination?)
Madrid’s main activity takes place in the Circulo be Bellas Artes (CBA), a huge building on a broad mid-town boulevard with galleries, rooms for workshops, theater, meetings, and exhibits, as well as a nicely stocked bookstore named for the poet Antonio Machado. And it’s here every year that the Lectura Continuada, the marathon reading, of the thousand-page Don Quixote takes place. The first reader, always, is the winner of the Cervantes Prize, in this case, the Mexican poet José Emilio Pacheco. He’s followed by politicos, actors, high-ranking cultural bureaucrats, and the like. Each reader gets a paragraph or two at most. The CBA has a high-tech approach to the Quixote, and arranged for teleconferencing from readers in cities throughout Africa, the Americas, and Asia. And, it was web-streamed,
4 Comments on Guest Columnists: Tom Miller, Reading Cervantes Aloud in Spain. Roberto Cantú, Octavio Paz. On-Line Poetry Festival: Responses to Arizona., last added: 5/7/2010
Thank you Tom, Roberto, all the poets especially, for your thoughtful, engaging poems. Alma Luz Villanueva, Antoinette Nora Claypoole, Meg Withers, Manuel Lozano, Carmen Catalayud, Francisco Alarcón. Out of the uncivilized discord of Arizona's ill-will come these moments of wonder and cultura.
Beautiful entries. My birthday is at the end of April. I think I will have to visit Spain one of these days for the festivals of April 23. Love and books!
Alma's Breathing While Brown gave me chills! Thank you for that, Alma.
What I like the most about Tom Miller is his eclectic songs and performance elicit both laughter and shock to people. I think he is one of the great artist and writer.
... is finished. But Blogger was down this morning, so you'll have to wait for the photographic evidence of my genius re-enactment of the travels of the knight errant and his squire...
Also coming soon, how books are better than therapy, Hephzibah's influence on my summer reading, and a virtual party to celebrate having finished my novel... Stay tuned.
I've inserted a watercolor done at my life drawing session last week. The pensive mood is nice, and it's time to start another novel, which will involve some casting about for concept and theme. My present evening reading is Cervantes’s “Don Quixote,” translated by Edith Grossman. I’ve read other, earlier translations, but this is both scholarly and a handsome edition, replete with footnotes about Cervantes’s story references, and the manuscript history. A jacket blurb by Lionel Trilling says, “It can be said that all prose fiction is a variation on the theme of “Don Quixote.” Perhaps. The theme of an addled but learned man coming centuries late to the call of knightly chivalry, and setting out in comical, makeshift knight’s regalia to seek adventure, has the ingredients of a comical farce, and yet, it never admits to anything like tongue-in-cheek comedy. We groan and shake our heads at Quixote’s foibles, even smile, ruefully, but the language, and often the wisdom sweep us along. Another jacket blurb by Milan Kundera says it well, “Don Quixote is practically unthinkable as a living being, and yet, in our memory, what character is more alive?” There are many story variations on this hero’s journey, or quest, from the crossing of the threshold from our world into the story world, the trials the hero must face along the journey, the winning (or losing) of some treasure, and the return—richer or poorer, in wealth or spirit. Perhaps none have, or will, make the journey quite like Don Quixote.
0 Comments on contemplating don quixote as of 1/1/1900
by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden HarperCollins 2007
Do not be fooled into believing this is a cute title appended to a harmless book. This book is for boys and it is dangerous. Here is your proof, from the tiny type on the copyright page:
Note to parents: This book contains a number of activities which may be dangerous if not done exactly as directed or which may be inappropriate for young children. All of the activities should be carried out under adult supervision only. The authors and publishers expressly disclaim liability for any injury or damages that may result from engaging in the activities contained in this book.
In other words: If you have a boy, be a parent and raise them in ways that make legal disclaimers like this unnecessary.
Seriously though, boys by their very nature are curious and like to explore their world on their own terms. Yes, parental supervision is good, but so is a boy who knows how to cautiously explore the edges of his abilities. It can be a great thing for a boy and a parent to bond over, say, the building of a tree house or a go-cart but it is a greater joy for a boy to go out and learn how to master his own world.
This book is an update of the kind of American Boy's Handy Book that was published at the turn of the century, and much of what is in here wouldn't have been out of place a hundred years ago. Here's a sampling from the table of contents:
The seven wonders of the ancient world
Five knots every boy should know
Making a bow and arrow
Famous battles
U.S. Naval flag codes
Navajo code talker's dictionary
Understanding grammar
Girls
Making cloth fireproof
Secret inks
Navigation
The Declaration of Independence
Dog tricks
Coin tricks
Seven poems every boy should know
How to play poker
A brief history of artillery
The Ten Commandments
Common trees
Five pen-and-paper games
The game of chess
Books every boy should read
growing sunflowers
That these topics are and have been of interest to boys speaks to their evergreen nature. Did I mention that was a partial list?
I have a couple of favorite little things about this book. First, it begins with a list of essential items a boy should have. A pocket knife is first, and the book is modern enough to point out that pocket knives can still be carried on checked luggage at the airport. A little further down the list a pencil and paper are recommended in case "...you see a crime and want to write down a license plate number or a description... or a shopping list." Just that someone out there is planting the seed of a child always having something to write on is enough to help spawn a more literate generation, or at least one that copies down the latest fart jokes they've heard.
A little further down the list is a magnifying glass "for general interest. Can also be used to start a fire." Exactly. Don't pretend we don't know why boys love these essential tools. Sure, the could try to make flameproof cloth and then try to burn it with a magnifying glass. They might even lob off one of their fingers in the process with a pocket knife. But, again, there is little to fear if they have been raised properly.
I have to admit, I was a little surprised by the selection of poems every boy should know. Most of these I was forced to memorize in the 7th grade and I can't say it was always a pleasant experience. Following each poem there is a paragraph explaining the poem and it's importance and provide an opportunity to help round out a boy's street education with something a little more refined. The poems?
Pretty deadly stuff for boys, perhaps even dangerous, no? Personally I'd have liked to see maybe a Robert Service poem, or something with a little swash and buckle. I have buried in the archives a book entitled Songs of Men and there's some sea chanteys and other rugged bits of verse that would have easily fit it. Maybe a cowboy ballad.
When my girls are a little older I'm probably going to let them have a go at this book as well. We'll build a tree house and make bows and arrows and catch bugs in old jars. After all, what might be dangerous for boys is perfectly harmless in the hands of a girl. That's probably the best way I can spin that.
0 Comments on The Dangerous Book for Boys as of 1/1/1970
Today the Random House 
Thank you Tom, Roberto, all the poets especially, for your thoughtful, engaging poems. Alma Luz Villanueva, Antoinette Nora Claypoole, Meg Withers, Manuel Lozano, Carmen Catalayud, Francisco Alarcón. Out of the uncivilized discord of Arizona's ill-will come these moments of wonder and cultura.
Beautiful entries. My birthday is at the end of April. I think I will have to visit Spain one of these days for the festivals of April 23. Love and books!
Alma's Breathing While Brown gave me chills! Thank you for that, Alma.
My apologies to Carmen Calatayud for misspelling her last name so execrably. Calatayud, is the proper spelling of the poet's name.
What I like the most about Tom Miller is his eclectic songs and performance elicit both laughter and shock to people. I think he is one of the great artist and writer.