Today at history FM we are lucky enough to bring to you an exclusive live interview with Miguel de Cervantes, author of the 2 part Spanish epic novel 'Don Quixote’ who's calling in from the afterlife. The first part was published in 1605 and the second 10 years later and have now both been translated into over 50 languages, gaining worldwide recognition and inspiring writers from Borges to Flaubert. Mr Cervantes, thank you for taking some time out of your busy day to speak with us! I hope you’re feeling well enough to answer some questions from the viewers and I?
I’d be glad to, thanks for having me on the show, it makes for a nice break from my work on part 18 of don Quixote, the series has been very well received here in the afterlife!
The first question has just come through from Stephen King who says ‘Don Quixote has always been on my reading list, but before I embark on this 1000 page journey, could you explain to us the premise of the book?’
Without giving too much away, the story is centred around ‘Alonso Quixano , a man who has spent most of his adult life engrossed in books of chivalry and has become helplessly obsessed with them. One day, our protagonist finally decides he is ready to become the very thing he has spent days and nights reading about. A knight errant . Alonso changes his name to Don Quixote de La Mancha , dons his gleaming armour, mounts his noble steed Rocinante, woos a dainty, gorgeous princess named Dulcinea del Toboso and voyages across Spain courageously righting wrongs with his loyal squire Sancho Panza. Or at least, due to a lack of sleep and too much reading, that's what he thought! In actual fact his armour was made of pasteboard , his steed a weedy, ageing horse, Sancho Panza a pot bellied peasant and his princess a sturdy farm girl with a mole from which 7 or 8 inches of hair sprouted!
Why do you think people should read don Quixote?
Don Quixote is widely considered to be the first modern novel published and thus it formed the basis from which modern literature and thought grew upon. The novel also influenced many authors as you’ve mentioned, for example the character Madame Bovary could be seen as a female Don Quixote, and Shakespeare ,who lived in the same era as me, wrote ‘The History of Cardenio’ which is based on a charachter in Don Quixote. The book is set in golden age Spain which is a very interesting and formative period in Spain's history characterised by flourishing literature, thought and art, so I believe my book is an enjoyable way to experience this history.
The book sounds very funny, could you give us an example of a comical moment?
A well known example is Don Quixote and Sancho’s first adventure, where the knight spots a field of windmills that, in his eyes, are a band of bloodthirsty giants, so despite the cries of Sancho he brandishes his lance, spurs Rocinante onwards and gallops straight into the nearest windmill, shattering his lance! This example may be so well known as it comes early on in the book, but the rest is also packed full with comedy and just a few pages later the duo come across two friars and a travelling woman whom our knight errant mistakes for a princess being held by two enchanters and,as you can imagine , comedic chaos ensues.
What is the overall point or message of the book?
In the preface to my novel, I mentioned that I wanted to produce a satire of the stories of knights errant that were so popular back then, and that's exactly what I did. The purpose of my book is to undermine, mock and destroy the very basis of these stories of courageous knights errant and I did
so by creating a charachter so absorbed in chivalric myth and lore that the very way he perceives the world has become skewed to meet his quixotic expectations, and he confuses reality with this embellished, fantasy world where windmills are giants and friars are enchanters!
Thank you so much for speaking with us today Mr Cervantes, we reached an all time high of 90,000 listn… Oh! Looks like he’s disconnected, he must have run out of credit. Anyway by way of concluding today’s episode I'd like to suggest an interesting modern interpretation of Don Quixote. Could the book be warning us not to become overly immersed in fake realities, like video games and soap operas or social media or else we might end up like Don Quixote with his overly idealistic and impractical beliefs?
