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“Don Quixote” as a manual for living

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Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#21

Post by SamPatt »

SavantIdiot wrote: post #11
DantesKite wrote: post #3

The only people who praise this book are literature majors. It was a disappointment from beginning to end. I couldn't understand why people thought it was so great. It didn't feel like an epic. Maybe for its time it was fun to read, but you really have to be deprived of all stimuli to enjoy it (unless you're a literature professor who has to read it). Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's…

EE + Math major here. Loved it. Literally laugh-out-loud funny in parts. The sarcasm and wit is astonishingly modern.

Agreed. It's genuinely funny at times. It's worth at least trying it for a few days

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#22

Post by lostlogin »

colechristensen wrote: post #12

If the length is imposing to you (which it generally is), it’s good to know that what you get is almost always two separate works published ten years apart together as part one and part two. Part 1 is relatively short and hilarious and can be very much read and enjoyed on its own. It is perhaps easier to get tired of the style in part two. It also matters which translation you read.

> It also matters which translation you read.

Have you got a recommendation?

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#23

Post by [deleted] »

blairbeckwith wrote: post #4
DantesKite wrote: post #3

The only people who praise this book are literature majors. It was a disappointment from beginning to end. I couldn't understand why people thought it was so great. It didn't feel like an epic. Maybe for its time it was fun to read, but you really have to be deprived of all stimuli to enjoy it (unless you're a literature professor who has to read it). Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's…

This is almost certainly an example of the Seinfeld Is Unfunny trope[1], where older things seem boring and lame today, because the state of the art has moved forward so much, even though they were completely groundbreaking and genre defining when they came out. [1] https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SeinfeldIsUnfunn...

[deleted]

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#24

Post by khazhoux »

Don Quixote in Spanish households is like Gödel, Escher, Bach for techies. You bought it when you were young, it sits proudly on your bookshelf, you talk about how meaningful it was... but you've only read a chapter or two.

(c'mon, you gonna pretend you really read the entire GEB on the bookshelf behind you right now?)

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#25

Post by izzydata »

DantesKite wrote: post #3

The only people who praise this book are literature majors. It was a disappointment from beginning to end. I couldn't understand why people thought it was so great. It didn't feel like an epic. Maybe for its time it was fun to read, but you really have to be deprived of all stimuli to enjoy it (unless you're a literature professor who has to read it). Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's…

Sounds like some classic elitism. If you don't like it, it is because you don't get it or didn't finish it. Even though you likely didn't finish it because you didn't like it. You see this kind of thing in a lot of different mediums.

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#27

Post by jaek »

antiterra wrote: post #5
DantesKite wrote: post #3

The only people who praise this book are literature majors. It was a disappointment from beginning to end. I couldn't understand why people thought it was so great. It didn't feel like an epic. Maybe for its time it was fun to read, but you really have to be deprived of all stimuli to enjoy it (unless you're a literature professor who has to read it). Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's…

The Don Quixote we are delivered is usually two books, and I think the first is far superior to the second. Either way, they are two different kinds of books published years apart that we are given as one. Much of the genius of Don Quixote is the satirical take on Chivalric Romances that were popular at the time. He uses tropes from those stories, mocks them, and expands the scope of the narrative. Of course, this an…

I own a smartphone, but I also really enjoy messing around with old hardware because its fascinating and illuminating to see what has changed and what hasn't. Maybe some present day readers of Don quixote find the same enjoyment?

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#28

Post by thedmstdmstdmst »

DantesKite wrote: post #3

The only people who praise this book are literature majors. It was a disappointment from beginning to end. I couldn't understand why people thought it was so great. It didn't feel like an epic. Maybe for its time it was fun to read, but you really have to be deprived of all stimuli to enjoy it (unless you're a literature professor who has to read it). Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's…

"Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's a pretty fun read."

You must know the history of Cervantes and meant the above in reference to his time in prison otherwise this is quite hilarious and profoundly the funniest thing I have read in a long time.

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#29

Post by mathattack »

DantesKite wrote: post #3

The only people who praise this book are literature majors. It was a disappointment from beginning to end. I couldn't understand why people thought it was so great. It didn't feel like an epic. Maybe for its time it was fun to read, but you really have to be deprived of all stimuli to enjoy it (unless you're a literature professor who has to read it). Like maybe stay in a prison cell for a few months. Then yea, it's…

I struggled with it too. One of the first major works I gave up on.

Re: “Don Quixote” as a manual for living

#30

Post by DaveExeter »

khazhoux wrote: post #24

Don Quixote in Spanish households is like Gödel, Escher, Bach for techies. You bought it when you were young, it sits proudly on your bookshelf, you talk about how meaningful it was... but you've only read a chapter or two. (c'mon, you gonna pretend you really read the entire GEB on the bookshelf behind you right now?)

Of course!

It's not like it is a long book.

Now Metamagical Themas is a different story.

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