Don Quixote: Part II
Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 1:02 am
So I've finally made it to the second part of Don Quixote, and after reading Cervantes' prologue where he does what he swears he is not going to do, I finally get back to the action, and what happens? Sancho tells the Don that someone has written a book about their exploits, with so much detail of even events that happened when they were alone that he fears for his life. The book is entitled, in the Grossman translation, The Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote of La Mancha, which is Cervantes' name for his own work in the first part of this story. And so the scholar who discovered the work is summoned to Don Quixote's chamber and, sarcastically and mockingly, the scholar bows to the "knight" and briefly retells pretty much every tale that we've already read.
While this is amusing, it is also frustrating, because I want to see what happens already, and enough with the freaking talking about what's happening or going to happen. I'm a firm believer of "show, don't tell," having been trained in the "modern" idea of fiction writing, and so all this florid prose and courtly speech is starting to irk me because there are other stories I am desperate to give my attention to, other characters longing for me to love them, promising to give me more action and less talk.* I do realize, even in my frustration, that this may not only be a device to get Cervantes into his own novel, but also to refresh the memories of those who read his first part of Don Quixote, since it has been 10 years since he finished that, and also to dispel any myths that may have been written by the false Don Quixote author. Kind of like how most sequels to movies give at least a small recap of what happened in the movie that came before it (i.e. in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the last actions of the main character Alice in Resident Evil are repeated and incorporated into the new story, and in the next sequel, Resident Evil: Extinction, the actions of Alice from the first movie are repeated, only to reveal that this Alice is a clone being used for research by the evil scientist at the Umbrella Corporation, but it reminds the viewer of what happened originally, since there were several years between the two movies). This dulls my anger a bit, but I'm still ready to go off on another adventure and not read novels that have nothing to do with the plot, another topic that Cervantes' uses to make fun of himself, as Don Quixote dismisses the entire history once he hears that "The Tale of Reckless Curiosity" is also included in the telling of his story.
*This comment made me think of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. If you're not familiar with them, they're a trio of highly educated Shakespearean scholars and performers who parody all of Shakespeare's works in both a 3-disc "radio show" and an hour and a half live performance of what they call "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)". They also cover the Bible, The Complete History of America, Literature, and even have a Millenium Musical, all of which are witty, brilliant, and hysterical.
What makes me think of them is that in their radio show analysis of Hamlet, one member refers to Hamlet as "all thought and no action," and Laertes as "all action and no tought," with Fortinbras being the balanced of the three. He then goes on to explain how these three are, in this way, exactly like The Three Stooges, because Mo is always beating up Curly, and "nothing really bad ever happens to Larry except maybe he gets his hair pulled." Hilarious.
It's not really relevant here, but it came to mind and I thought I'd share, because I think everyone on BookTalk would appreciate their extreme knowledge and humor. As a young child, they are how I learned most of my Shakespearean knowledge, which only made them funnier when I listened to them again after reading most of his major works. They really leave no stone unturned, and it's a great belly laugh for anyone who appreciates theater. I've seen them on many occasions, in many cities, and would see them every week if I had the opportunity.
Take a look:
The Official Reduced Shakespeare website: http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/wp/
RSC on YouTube: google.com/search?q=reduced+shakespeare ... CEEQqwQwAw
While this is amusing, it is also frustrating, because I want to see what happens already, and enough with the freaking talking about what's happening or going to happen. I'm a firm believer of "show, don't tell," having been trained in the "modern" idea of fiction writing, and so all this florid prose and courtly speech is starting to irk me because there are other stories I am desperate to give my attention to, other characters longing for me to love them, promising to give me more action and less talk.* I do realize, even in my frustration, that this may not only be a device to get Cervantes into his own novel, but also to refresh the memories of those who read his first part of Don Quixote, since it has been 10 years since he finished that, and also to dispel any myths that may have been written by the false Don Quixote author. Kind of like how most sequels to movies give at least a small recap of what happened in the movie that came before it (i.e. in Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the last actions of the main character Alice in Resident Evil are repeated and incorporated into the new story, and in the next sequel, Resident Evil: Extinction, the actions of Alice from the first movie are repeated, only to reveal that this Alice is a clone being used for research by the evil scientist at the Umbrella Corporation, but it reminds the viewer of what happened originally, since there were several years between the two movies). This dulls my anger a bit, but I'm still ready to go off on another adventure and not read novels that have nothing to do with the plot, another topic that Cervantes' uses to make fun of himself, as Don Quixote dismisses the entire history once he hears that "The Tale of Reckless Curiosity" is also included in the telling of his story.
*This comment made me think of the Reduced Shakespeare Company. If you're not familiar with them, they're a trio of highly educated Shakespearean scholars and performers who parody all of Shakespeare's works in both a 3-disc "radio show" and an hour and a half live performance of what they call "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)". They also cover the Bible, The Complete History of America, Literature, and even have a Millenium Musical, all of which are witty, brilliant, and hysterical.
What makes me think of them is that in their radio show analysis of Hamlet, one member refers to Hamlet as "all thought and no action," and Laertes as "all action and no tought," with Fortinbras being the balanced of the three. He then goes on to explain how these three are, in this way, exactly like The Three Stooges, because Mo is always beating up Curly, and "nothing really bad ever happens to Larry except maybe he gets his hair pulled." Hilarious.
It's not really relevant here, but it came to mind and I thought I'd share, because I think everyone on BookTalk would appreciate their extreme knowledge and humor. As a young child, they are how I learned most of my Shakespearean knowledge, which only made them funnier when I listened to them again after reading most of his major works. They really leave no stone unturned, and it's a great belly laugh for anyone who appreciates theater. I've seen them on many occasions, in many cities, and would see them every week if I had the opportunity.
Take a look:
The Official Reduced Shakespeare website: http://www.reducedshakespeare.com/wp/
RSC on YouTube: google.com/search?q=reduced+shakespeare ... CEEQqwQwAw