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Lectures on Don Quixote by Vladimir Nabokov (2016, Trade Paperback)
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherHarperCollins
ISBN-100156495406
ISBN-139780156495400
eBay Product ID (ePID)1359277
Product Key Features
Number of Pages240 Pages
Publication NameLectures on Don Quixote
LanguageEnglish
SubjectEuropean / Spanish & Portuguese, General
Publication Year2016
TypeNot Available
Subject AreaLiterary Criticism, Reference
AuthorVladimir Nabokov
FormatTrade Paperback
Dimensions
Item Height0.6 in
Item Weight8.3 Oz
Item Length8 in
Item Width5.3 in
Additional Product Features
LCCN83-018550
ReviewsQuite the least interesting, most dutiful of Nabokov's collegiate lectures on literature, these talks on Don Quixote were given at Harvard, 1951-52. Again, Nabokov applies principles of categorization to the text at hand: dimensions, numbering, topographies, maps. And he offers some (but not much) general discussion of the book's enduring genius. "What we shall witness now is the evolution of the epic form, the shedding of its metrical skin, the hoofing of its feet, a sudden fertile cross between the winged monster of the epic and the specialized prose form of entertaining narration, more or less a domesticated mammal, if I may pursue the metaphor to its lame end;" Nabokov sees Don Quixote as a logical continuation of earlier chivalric romances, "with the elements of madness and shame and mystification increased." The book, he finds, is one of those "perhaps more important in eccentric diffusion than in their intrinsic value." Clearly not one of Nabokov's favorite books, he sees it as neither humane nor humorous: a whole section of the lectures is given over to literally scoring (as in tennis) the Don's cruel humiliations. And Cervantes' comedy receives little praise: "Dulcinea shall be restored to Don Quixote if - now comes the rib-splitting joke - if Sancho consents to take 3000 lashes on his bare behind. Otherwise, says the Duke when he hears of the requirement, you do not get your island. The whole thing is very medieval, coarse, and stupid fun, as all fun that comes from the devil. Authentic humor comes from the angels." True, Nabokov is sometimes entertaining when he kibbitzes, one novelist to another, taking Cervantes to task for not having done a scene better; he does admire the hapless Don himself. ("He stands for everything that is gentle, forlorn, pure, unselfish, and gallant. The parody has become a paragon.") But the bon mots here are scarce, and the book is little more than an acerbic, uninvolved study-guide - for Nabokov fanatics only.
IllustratedYes
Dewey Decimal863.3
Intended AudienceTrade
SynopsisA fastidiously shaped series of lectures based on a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of the Spanish classic. Rejecting the common interpretation of Don Quixote as a warm satire, Nabokov perceives the work as a catalog of cruelty through which the gaunt knight passes. Edited and with a Preface by Fredson Bowers; photographs.
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