Don Quixote Selections Selections From Don Quixote

How Don Quixote was knighted, his valiant battle with the windmills, and much more. English translations on facing pages of original Spanish text capture the flavor and romance of this literary masterpiece.

The classic Spanish tale of humorous chivalry, depicting the exploits of a man who believes he's a knight bringing justice and truth to the world.

"His Don Quixote ... from its first to its last page [is] a marvel of imagination, poetry, sentiment, and sarcasm. . . . People still speak of it only as 'Dore's Don Quixote'."--"Life and Reminiscences of Gustave Dore "Dore himself had something of Quixote's chivalry and spent an arduous life drafting impossible dreams; he knew fame as well as pain, disillusionment, and failure. At age 30 he was ready for Quixote and prepared to realize his dream of illustrating the world's great books. Dore never became the painter he yearned to be, but he came very close to realizing his desired intimacy with the classics. His sympathy with Cervantes' satire was so close that, of the numerous Quixote interpretations by many outstanding artists, Dore's has become the standard. The French translation of Cervantes that Dore illustrated is forgotten; here is the memorable remnant of that work--all 120 full-page plates, plus a selection of 70 characteristic headpiece and tailpiece vignettes. As can be seen in the backgrounds, Dore was ready professionally as well as emotionally for Quixote. He had traveled through Spain preparing an earlier work, and his graphic memory was as strong and indelible as that of another great Quixote interpreter, Picasso. From Sancho's village through Spanish hills and dry plateaus, in the Pyrenees and by the sea, in rural castles and Barcelona luxury, Dore illuminated the seventeenth-century setting with a nineteenth-century acquaintance with the scene. Dore was also a careful student of Renaissance costume and architecture; his minutiae, so copious, are invariably correct. Captions written especially for this edition describe the action with reference to the original Spanish text, capturing high points of the story. But of course Dore conveys it all in a picture: the famous windmill charge, traversing the Sierra Morena, battling the Knight of the White Moon, visions of giants, dragons, flaming lakes, and damsels, the Dulcinea never found, all in full-page wood engravings. Dore's marvelous penchant for ghostly effects in panoramic landscapes and seascapes finds large scope here, carefully engraved by one of the best of his longtime studio engravers, H. Pisano. Dore's Man of la Mancha glows with the artist's own enchantment and humor. Artists and illustration aficionados will add this royalty-free volume to other Dover editions of Dore's works--art he created to stand with great literature that now stands alone. Dore's Quixote indeed stands alone, unique among the knights and graphic castles in Spain. Dover (1982) original publication of selections from "L'ingenieux hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche par Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, " published by L. Hachette et Cie, Paris, 1869.

A retelling of the exploits of an idealistic Spanish country gentleman and his shrewd squire who set out, as knights of old, to search for adventure, right wrongs, and punish evil.

Obsessed with tales of gallant knights, Don Quixote, a middle-aged man from La Mancha, decides to take his own adventure. Donning rusty armor and riding upon an old horse, he sets off to change the world and save his invented damsel in distress in the name of chivalry. Unfortunately, Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza are met with a host of ill-intentioned characters, and the pair often find themselves the butt of a joke rather than chivalrous saviors. This renowned tragic comedy, written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, was first published in Spain in two parts in 1605 and 1615. This is an unabridged version of John Ormsby's English translation from 1885.