I feel that it is only appropriate that my first post would be about the book which inspired this blog. A book which still has a warm place in my heart due to the fact that I can still remember my grandfather reading it to me, even though it was the abridged version targeting five-year-olds.
Buy Don Quixote from Amazon.com*
More Books by Miguel De Cervantes*
More Books translated by Edith Grossman*
This is by far the translation of Don Quixote I have enjoyed the most.
I enjoyed that Ms. Grossman tried to capture not only the story, but also the prose, rhythm and style of writing of the era even it was long winded and somewhat tedious. Even Cervantes’ self-deprecating and self-glamorizing humor is intact. The foot notes also help the non-Spanish speaker understand more of background to the stories, the prose and inside jokes.
Even though this book was written centuries ago I found it contemporary, charming, hilarious and accessible. I believe that it is a great disservice to Cervantes that Don Quixote is being thought of as a drama only to disregard the story’s comedic aspects.
Among the 1,000 pages of the book, Cervantes weaves unrelated background stories of characters which the duo meets on their adventures. I found that to be an advantage in such a long book because I could put the book down for a few weeks, read another book, and come back without missing a beat.
I believe that if you would take away the “classic literature” label from this book, which so many people find terrifying, you’ll find a funny story, sometimes sad yet very modern even by today’s standards.
Buy Don Quixote from Amazon.com*
More Books by Miguel De Cervantes*
More Books translated by Edith Grossman*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I bought this book
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
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I've wanted to read Don Quixote but I'll admit the length always intimidated me a bit but the footnotes sound like they could make the book more accessible. Or I could start with the children's version and work my way up
Hi Red,Congratulations and thanks for being the first post a comment on the blog.I think that this translation is very reader friendly, Ms. Grossman captured the humor (Don Quixote part I is a comedy, not a tragedy is we have been brought up to believe) and the footnotes really help understand the jokes or the intent. The children's version doesn't capture that.It took me a long time to read both parts. I even stopped to read a few books in between since there are many stories-within-stories in the books.Z.
Someone else left a similar comment about this version on Amazon. It's also Kindle-available. My husband bought me a Kindle. Hooray! Now I own the Grossman version too. If I find out I don't like it I know who to blame, Zohar. Just kidding! :) Thank you for sharing your thoughts on it! It's a classic, I should have read it a long time ago!
You'd love it Evelyn, especially the first part. Make sure you read the footnotes.
I thought I'd step back in time a bit - to read your first post. I'm glad I did. This expresses why you titled your blog the way you did. :)
What a wonderful gift your grandfather gave you. A love for books. :)
Thank you C.E. I'm still trying to find that magical book with my kids.
I'm really looking forward to reading this one at some point in time. Knowing that it's your favorite translation makes me feel better about the choice. It's always a little hard to pick out a translation to read when there are so many of them out there.
I started to read Don Quixote a bit over a year ago, because I was going to Spain. I liked it, and appreciated the satirical and comedic intent, but found it longish and hard to get into. Later my e-reader broke and when I got a new one didn't resume reading.
After reading your review, I think it may have been a translation which didn't do justice to Cervantes. I'll look for this edition and hope that I can get into it more.