Homenaje al Quijote

     Don Quixote has been so much a part of my life, that I hardly know where to begin. It is a book that I have taught many times, and yet never tire of reading over and over. It always makes me laugh out loud at the funny parts, even though I know they're coming. It is a book that I have been fortunate enough to publish on from time to time. But if I have to limit my comments to one particular relationship I have developed with Don Quixote over the years, it's a no brainer! I first read the novel from cover to cover in 1979, while studying at the University of Barcelona with Alberto Blecua. Some five years later, when I opened the questions for my PhD Prelims, I sat in stunned silence as I saw that another Alberto, Alberto Porqueras Mayo, was asking me to write for an hour and a half on Don Quixote's entrance into Barcelona! This question came from nowhere. I challenge anyone who has read Don Quixote, no matter how many times, to come up with ninety minutes of brilliant analysis on Don Quixote’s entrance into Barcelona, or any analysis sufficient to fill ninety agonizing minutes. But, much as the knight of the Woeful Countenance might have done, saqué fuerzas de flaqueza and I did the best I could. It must have worked, for I passed the exam. But now, forever and forever, Don Quixote and Barcelona will be inextricably bound together for me.

~John Cull, Professor of Spanish

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     For me Quijote represents that which is best in the human spirit; its boldness and its tenacity, its constancy and idealism in the face of the paradoxes of human existence. Quijote embodies the courage to envision a better world that is the heart of the truly intellectual life. Quijote enacts his vision and makes it real in living and dying for it.

~J. Kelsey Wood, Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy

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     I read Part I of Don Quijote as a teenager in Cuba. It revealed to me the insufficiency of my vocabulary. I did not particularly enjoy that experience, for it disclosed my limitations. I read Part II as a college student; this was equally difficult but my acceptance of the learning process made it more enjoyable.
     The book reflects the man who wrote it. Its immense vocabulary demonstrates that it was written by a genius. The author was not constrained by a difficult life. Cervantes was poor, persecuted, wounded in battle and enslaved for many years. Yet he produced a great work of art: adversity helped him to succeed. Our real or imagined misfortunes are nothing compared to his, and he should inspire all of us.
     Don Quijote also reflects Spanish culture. The book is a satire of chivalric romances, sentimental novels, and if we dare to generalize, fiction itself. The hero cannot save others from themselves, regardless of his interventions. The good ones continue to be good and the criminals continue to be criminals. There may be exceptions to this norm, but as a working hypothesis it is descriptive of life.
     Don Quijote, the fictional character, should remind us that fiction is fiction, and to believe otherwise is a sign of madness. Those who take seriously the conspiracy theories of modern novels (such as The Da Vinci Code) are no less mad than Don Quijote himself. It is they who are in desperate need of reading Cervantes’s monumental work.

~Nicolás Sánchez, Professor of Economics

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     Four hundred years ago, a foolhardy fellow on an ungainly steed challenged a windmill to duel and lost. Now in La Mancha, on a ridgeline whose name I do not know, an array of windmills has taken up positions against the sky. On the highway from Madrid to Seville, I watch through the windshield as the slender white giants twirl their blades in the wind and wonder who won the battle after all: the "giant" who unseated the madman, or the madman who brought windmills to life?

~Daniel Frost, Assistant Professor of Spanish

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     Reading the Quijote last year while studying in Sevilla had the great effect of reaffirming my faith in the power of friendship, love, adventure, and the imagination. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to genuinely engage in this timeless Spanish masterpiece.

~Joanne Egnatchik, Holy Cross ’05

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     During my year in Spain, I decided to sign up for a class entitled El Quijote. At first, the task of reading this —as I’m sure we all know— extremely long book written in old Spanish was daunting and I was having second thoughts about my own level of sanity for having signed up for the course. By the end, however, I found myself so appreciative that I had been able to take with me such a special part of Spain’s rich culture.

~Betsey Mattern, Holy Cross ’05

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     It has been a life goal for me to read the Quijote. Now I am a few chapters into it, and I find the characters very endearing. Quijote makes me laugh. I am excited to be on this journey with my favorite “caballero andante.” I have been to see the windmills in Spain, I have heard parts of his story many times, and I am so fortunate to be able to read it aloud with friends who enjoy it as much as I do.

~Lauren Giera, Holy Cross ’05

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     Lo que más destacaría yo del Quijote es, por supuesto, los dos personajes principales: Don Quijote y Sancho Panza. Don Quijote: la gente lo ve como un loco, una persona fuera de sí, que se cree un “caballero andante” (personaje ya pasado de moda y de tiempos pasados), que lucha por restablecer la justicia, y por encontrar el amor de la dama de quien está enamorado “Dulcinea del Toboso.” Sin embargo, Don Quijote, es un ser noble, honesto, de buen corazón, causante de las desdichas que le ocurren, pues no ve la maldad del mundo de los “cuerdos,” que es el mundo real. Don Quijote, valiente caballero, hace frente a cualquier enemigo sin importarle tamaño o fuerza, y siempre, o casi siempre, acaba vencido, maltratado y herido, pero eso no le hace flaquear en busca de su afán por “facer justicia y desfacer entuertos.”
     Sancho Panza: es todo lo contrario a su señor, Don Quijote. Él es más materialista, y sí ve el mundo tal cual es; sin embargo, también peca de tener un corazón noble, y también es víctima de las maldades de la realidad.
     Siempre me ha llamado mucho la atención la actitud de Sancho, pues aún sin comprender las decisiones que toma su señor, las acata de una forma u otra, y nunca lo deja solo en sus aventuras, aunque eso sí, es un gran cobarde, pues siempre deja a Don Quijote sólo ante el peligro, y él corre a refugiarse y a esconderse donde pueda.

~Isabel Fernández Naranjo, Universidad de Sevilla