# Why is Don Quixote "the" Spanish book of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 24, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213 "2010-02-24T02:19:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/21 "2010-02-24T11:31:38Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > I have a friend who is a literature professor (PhD) and I asked him, if Don Quixote was the first novel, what are all these literary traditions it is satirizing? He said epic poems, bard songs, plays, etc. I think it’s important to note that, pointing out some book or other that was published beforehand and called a novel would not change the fact that Don Quixote is widely considered the first novel. I’d be surprised if your lit professor was referring to Frankenstein, though, since it was written about 2 centuries later. My lit professor didn’t discuss that part, it was the literature book he gave us that mentioned that in a chapter about novels. **Nava** , thanks, and I agree with you on the “assigned at school”. Most of my classmates either didn’t get too far, or managed to get the cliff notes for El Quijote. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/22 "2010-02-24T13:16:15Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I thought Clarissa was supposed to be the first novel. Maybe just the first in English. Cervantes was an exact contemporary of Shakespeare; they both died in April, 1616. (He also wrote plays & poems.) _Clarissa_ was published in 1748. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/23 "2010-02-24T13:32:02Z")
> [@vdgg81](#): > > The fact that Menard never managed to complete his work is the single greatest tragedy of modern letters. The richness with which he managed to imbue each word in his novel shocks me every time I pour on his text. I also regret he couldnt finish his Don Quijote, his next project was supposed to be “The Lord of the Rings, by Pierre Menard”. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/24 "2010-02-24T13:57:32Z")
> [@MidnightRadio](#): > > Which translation of _Don Quixote_ is considered the best? And how good is [the most recent one](http://www.amazon.com/Don-Quixote-ebook/dp/B001R1LCKS/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2)? I prefer the Magoo version. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/25 "2010-02-24T15:21:29Z")
> [@cisco](#): > > don quixote by cervantes is boring and pedestrian. I prefer pierre menard’s version. Ja. Good one. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/26 "2010-02-24T16:07:04Z")
> [@vdgg81](#): > > …every time I pour on his text. Ah, you must have the Modern Library Laminated Edition. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213/27 "2010-02-24T16:27:03Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > It’s not supposed to be the first novel: after all, it makes fun of existing _novelas de caballería_ (lit. novels about knights). But it changed the concept of novel, at least as it previously existed. It was set “in a time much like our own” and “a place much like ours” even if the author had chosen to have memory problems about the name of the village where Don Alonso Quijano lived; previous novels in Spanish, Catalan and Galego were set “in a [del]galaxy[/del] country far, far away” populated by fae and knights whose armor stayed spotless after a fray and came on and off without a glitch. Cervantes’ characters sweated, they made mistakes (part of the theme of El Quijote is “who is the one who’s deluded, Quijano or the rest of the world?”), they got hungry and thirsty and needed a shave. _ **chosen best answer by users** _ It’s not about a marbleized hero. It’s about the 99% of us who want to be a hero and aren’t. That was revolutionary. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-don-quixote-the-spanish-book-of-all-time/530213.md?page=1)