Overview: Why does Quixote have such common currency today? González Echevarría believes that Quixote is about the effect that literature has on its readers and literary creation. His story does not belong to any previous tradition but it is a new story, and this act of invention of a fifty-year-old man, Cervantes, is in itself part of modern literature. González Echevarría explains why the creation of this work was possible in 17th century Spain and, after making some important distinctions between the concepts of novel and romance, chivalric romances and courtly romance, explains that The Quixote is the first novel because it represents the clash between the protagonist and his setting for the first time. He then evokes the precursors of Quixote in the picaresque novel and the beginnings of realism. The lecture ends with an in-depth commentary on the prologue, its intentions and meanings, as well as the concepts of authorship, legitimation of literature and, ultimately, personal invention.
00:00 – Chapter 1. Don Quixote and his effect on readers
09:10 – Chapter 2. Distinguishing novel and romance
15:48 – Chapter 3. Chivalrous romance and courtly romance
22:38 – Chapter 4. Cervantes in the genealogy of the Spanish tradition
42:27 – Chapter 5. The prologue and its intentions
Complete course materials are available on the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses
This course was recorded in fall 2009.
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