《堂吉诃德》是塞万提斯最具国际影响的杰作，书名全称为《匪夷所思的拉曼查绅士堂吉诃德》。 作品描写了读骑士小说入迷的没落绅士吉哈达，自号堂吉诃德，试图用虚幻的骑士之道还世界以公正与太平，先后三次骑着老马出外行侠。他雇请崇尚实际的农夫邻居桑丘·潘萨作为侍从，与自己一起经历了风车大战、英勇救美、客栈奇遇、恶斗群羊、挑战雄狮、人地穴探奇等等奇特事变。他不分青红皂白，乱砍乱杀，不断闹出笑话，被人捉弄，屡遭惨败，直至临终之前才翻然醒悟。小说通过塑造与刻画堂吉诃德这一滑稽可笑、可爱而又可悲的人物形象，成功反映了西班牙当时的人文主义思想和现实之间的矛盾，揭露了封建贵族阶级的骄奢淫逸，表达了人民对社会变革的要求和愿望。

Publisher Comments:

The text reprinted here is based on award-winning translator Burton Raffel's masterful translation of Don Quijote, which is consistent, fluid, and modeled closely on the original Spanish.

Backgrounds and Context invites readers to explore the creative process that culminated in the publication of Don Quijote. Included are selections from works parodied by Cervantes (Amadis of Gaul and Orlando Furioso) and a portion of the spurious sequel to Part 1 written by Fernándes de Avellaneda.

Criticisms presents fifteen major interpretations of both the novel and selected episodes, describing Cervantes' intellectual milieu, revealing how he infused new life into the literary modes and motifs he had inherited, and illustrating the fundamental importance of Don Quijote in the history of modern fiction.

Synopsis

Part parody and part cautionary tale, "Don Quijote" is considered a literary masterpiece. This critical edition is based on Burton Raffel's translation that comes as close as possible to recreating Miguel de Cervantes' prose style - it is consitent, fluid and modelled on the original Spanish. Carefully selected background materials bring readers into the creative process that culminated in Don Quijote. Included is other writing by Cervantes as well as contemporary works by other authors and a modern account of the novel's influence throughout the ages. Fifteen critical essays present interpretations of both the novel and selected episodes.

From Library Journal

A translator of Horace, Balzac, Rabelais, and Salvador Espriu, as well as a theorist (The Art of Translating Prose, Pennsylvania State Univ. Pr., 1994), Raffel (Univ. of Southwest Louisiana) undertook the formidable task of translating Cervantes's masterpiece because he was uncomfortable recommending any of the existing translations. There are some real differences here. Raffel has junked the traditional transcription of Cide Hamete, the pseudoauthor, in favor of the less "colonialist" and more authentic Arabic, Sidi Hamid. Proper names that contain puns are explained within square brackets, and footnotes are kept to a minimum. A more vernacular style reigns: The blow on the neck and the stroke on the shoulder that dub Don Quijote a knight are, respectively, a "whack" and a "tap." The women at the inn, usually called "wenches," are "party-girls" or "whores." Sancho dreams that his "old lady" will someday be a queen and that his "kids" will be princes. In the proofs, "Castile" has been misspelled as "Castille," an oversight one would hope to see corrected in the final book. This is a lively alternative to the wide assortment of truly old-fashioned translations.

Book Dimension

Height (mm) 234 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Width (mm) 142