# Don Quixote Fans: A Little Help Here **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237 "2009-02-03T11:15:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/1 "2009-02-03T11:15:25Z")
I’m interested in giving this epic a try. I’ve never read it before, never read something this long in my LIFE and I haven’t read a fiction book PERIOD since high school. Needless to say I’m jumping in head first, but I’ve done a little looking into it and the themes really seem to resonate with me. So with this in mind I want to do this right. So what are some recommendations? Any particular translations that are agreed to be better than others? There a leather bound version sitting around somewhere so can get the full “classic feel.” 🆒 Just buy it for my iPhone? …or should I just rent the movie. 😕 Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/2 "2009-02-03T16:17:16Z")
[Edith Grossman’s translation](http://www.amazon.com/Don-Quixote-Miguel-Cervantes/dp/0060188707) received some good reviews a few years back. I picked up a copy of it, but haven’t tackled it yet (having read an earlier and difficult-to-read translation years ago). ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/3 "2009-02-03T16:51:02Z")
Give yourself a half an hour a day to read it. Expect it to take a good long time. Well worth it, fantastic book. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/4 "2009-02-03T17:20:59Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > [Edith Grossman’s translation](http://www.amazon.com/Don-Quixote-Miguel-Cervantes/dp/0060188707) received some good reviews a few years back. I picked up a copy of it, but haven’t tackled it yet (having read an earlier and difficult-to-read translation years ago). I read that copy and it’s really great. I highly recommend it. It is a translation that’s very easy to read, very engaging. I think you’ll be surprised by how much you enjoy it. It seems huge and overwhelming, but once you get into it, it’s really wonderful. And it’s about so much more than a crazy man tilting at windmills. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/5 "2009-02-03T17:49:32Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > …or should I just rent the movie. 😕 Oh, and I know you’re joking here, but _Don Quixote_ as a film project is famously jinxed. There was a good documentary a few years ago about Terry Gilliam’s doomed attempt to film the story (with Johnny Depp as the Don): [Lost in La Mancha](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308514/). ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/6 "2009-02-03T18:36:30Z")
> [@DaphneBlack](#): > > Give yourself a half an hour a day to read it. Expect it to take a good long time. > > Well worth it, fantastic book. Ditto, and I second the suggestion of the Grossman translation (found in paperback with a visored helm on a red cover) which is a vast improvement on the previously most popular Starkie translation. (The Raffel translation isn’t bad, but was put off by Rutherford’s clunky attempt.) If you’re not familiar with European history of the day, it is probably a good idea to pick up something like the [_Cambridge Companion to Don Quixote_](http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Companion-Cervantes-Companions-Literature/dp/0521663873/) or Sparks notes to capture some of the nuances that are easily lost in translation (especially names and places). I’ve always wanted to read Nabokov’s _Lectures on Don Quixote_ but from what I’ve read of them he views _Quixote_ not as satire but a critical cynicism (certainly true of the second and more downbeat part). Nonetheless, the book contains much that is utterly slapstick and farcical, and is an entertaining read compared to many classics. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/7 "2009-02-04T08:19:00Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Ditto, and I second the suggestion of the Grossman translation (found in paperback with a visored helm on a red cover) which is a vast improvement on the previously most popular Starkie translation. (The Raffel translation isn’t bad, but was put off by Rutherford’s clunky attempt.) If you’re not familiar with European history of the day, it is probably a good idea to pick up something like the [_Cambridge Companion to Don Quixote_](http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Companion-Cervantes-Companions-Literature/dp/0521663873/) or Sparks notes to capture some of the nuances that are easily lost in translation (especially names and places). Yeah, I actually picked up the cliffnotes a year ago when I first considered it. I had no idea it was so long and wasn’t ready for that kind of undertaking at the time. :o ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/don-quixote-fans-a-little-help-here/484237/8 "2009-02-04T09:26:37Z")
I got it out from the library, far too many years ago to recall the edition or translator. I’ll admit to skimming through the pastoral scenes for the sake of avoiding fines, but the rest was easy. It’s a good story on a few different levels. You’ll wonder how so many cliches found their way into a ‘masterpiece’ - a bit like the old chestnut about Shakespeare not being a great writer, just using a lot of famous quotes. I’d been involved backstage in a production of _Man of La Mancha_ a few years previously, other than that, I went into the book ‘cold’.