Don Quijote
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Harry Vélez Quiñones
Wyatt 237, X 3269, velez@ups.edu
University of Puget Sound
Office Hours W: 4:30-5:30, F: 1:00-4:00
FL 385: Don Quijote: The Quest for Modern Fiction
Website: http://webspace.pugetsound.edu/facultypages/velez/Quijote/
Texts:
Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quijote . Trans. Burton Raffel. Norton Critical Editions. (DQ)
Carroll B. Johnson. Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction . Waveland Press. (QT)
DQ – FL385 Coursepacket Assorted xeroxed Texts (CPK)
Texts on reserve:
Jean Canavaggio. Cervantes . Norton.
J.H. Elliott. Imperial Spain . New American Library.
Henry Kamen. Spain 1469-1714: A Society of Conflict , 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley.
Objectives:
"All prose fiction is a variation on the theme of Don Quixote ," according to Lionel Trilling, for whom
Cervantes posed "the problem of appearance and reality" ( Liberal Imagination 203). In Harry Levin's opinion,
Don Quixote is "the prototype of all realistic novels," exemplifying "the literary technique of systematic disillusionment" ( Gates of Horn 47–48). René Girard begins his sweeping study of the modern novel with
Don Quixote , specifically with "The Tale of Foolish Curiosity" from part 1. Both Wayne Booth and Marthe
Robert consider Cervantes' use of the self-conscious narrator as central to the development of modern fiction, and Robert Alter's "partial magic" is, as it is for Borges, the magic of Cervantes. ( . . . ) After World War II,
André Malraux remarked that only three books Robinson Crusoe , Don Quixote , and The Idiot (the first and the last profoundly influenced by the second) were truly meaningful to the survivors of prisons and concentration camps (119–120). (John J. Allen "Coping with Don Quixote " 45)
Having in mind the above observations, this course aims to carry out a close reading of Miguel de Cervantes' Don
Quijote (1605, 1615). The course will place the text in its cultural and historical setting, illuminate aspects that non-native readers may find obscure, and show its importance in modern fiction. Indeed, the course wants to demonstrate how our own modes of reading are predicated on what Cervantes' text accomplished beginning almost four-hundred years ago.
Requirements: a) One (1) mid-term exam. b) Three (3) critical response essays. c) One (1) research paper. d) One (1) reading journal.
Rules of the Game:
I. Class participation is fundamental. This assumes that you will read the assigned texts critically and in a detailed fashion. It is to be expected that you will arrive to class ready to answer questions, pose discussion topics, and engage in the detailed discussion of the works. It is your responsibility to contact me prior to class if you cannot meet the above expectations on a given day.
II. Each absence above the maximum number of three (3) will reduce class participation grade one full point: A to A-, B- to
C+, etc. Exceptions to this rule may be granted in case of special circumstances. Your class partipation grade amounts to
25% of the final grade.
III. Assigned papers are to be handed in by the stipulated deadline. Extensions or late submissions are not possible. The group project will be presented during the the final days of the semester. Once groups are formed they shold meet throught
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IV. Missing a test or skipping an assignment implies your willingness to forgo all credit for the work in question.
V. The syllabus is your road map to the course. Study it carefully and on a daily basis.
Grading: a) One (1) mid-term exam. 15% b) Three (3) response papers. c) One semester-length group project d) One (1) reading journal e) Class participation*
25%
25%
10%
25%
Methodology:

Class discussion of assigned readings is linked to the points raised by the Reading Guides available in the course's website. Although I do not expect you to have ready-made answers or comments to each and every issue, you should use them as a general outline to our discussions.
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Reading Reports: For every class period a student will present a short summary of the main points in terms of plot and meaning.
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The Reading Guides, though, are not to hold us captive to one line of inquiry. It is expected that as a result of our reading experience new avenues of discussion will emerge. Digressing is not a problem if it leads to a richer understanding of the literary experience.
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The Critical Journal is a special notebook where you will write down your critical thoughts, comments, questions, etc. as you read the texts . Bring this notebook to class so that you can use it to generate discussion points.

There are three response papers to be completed in this course. This kind of paper requires you to think in critical terms. It is a matter of using your intellect and not your heart. What I want from you is to see you putting together answers to what appears problematic in the fiction. I want to see you using your knowledge of literature, history, and culture in approaching the reading experience.
Bibliography:
Allen, John J. Don Quixote, Hero or Fool?
2 vols. Gainsville: U. of Florida Press, 1969, 1979.
Close, Anthony J. The Romantic Approach to "Don Quixote." Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Cruz, Anne J. and Carroll B. Johnson. Cervants and His Postmodern Constituencies.
New York: Garland Publications,
1999.
Dudley, Edward J., The Endless Text. "Don Quixote" and the Hermeneutics of Romance . Albany: SUNY Press, 1997.
El Saffar, Ruth. Critical Essays on Cervantes . Boston: G.K. Hall, 1986.
_____. Distance and Control in "Don Quixote": A Study in Narrative Technique . Chapel Hill: U. of North Carolina
Press, 1975.
El Saffar Ruth and Diana de Armas Wilson. Quixotic Desire: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Cervantes . Ithaca: Cornell
UP, 1993.
Gerli, E. Michael. Refiguring Authority: Reading, Writing, and Rewriting in Cervantes . Lexington, KY: U. of Kentucky
Press, 1995.
Johnson, Carroll B. Madness and Lust: A Psychoanalitical Approach to "Don Quixote".
Berkeley and Los Angeles: U. of California Press, 1983.
Mancing, Howard. The Chivalric World of "Don Quixote": Style, Structure, and Narrative Technique.
Columbia, MO:
U. of Missouri Press, 1982.
Murillo, Luis A. A Critical Introduction to "Don Quixote" . New York: Peter Lang, 1988.
Parr, James A. "Don Quixote": An Anatomy of subversive Discourse , Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 1988.
Predmore, Richard L. The World of "Don Quixote" . Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1967.
Reed, Walter L. An Exemplary History of the Novel: The Quixotic versus the Picaresque . Chicago: U of Chicago Press,
1981.
Riley, Edward C. Cervantes's History of the Novel . Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.
Spitzer, Leo. "Linguistic Perspectivism in Don Quixote, " in Linguistics and Literary History , 41–85. Princeton:
Princeton UP, 1967.
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Acronyms:
––Texts:
CPK = Coursepack FL 385
DQ = Don Quijote , Trans. Burton Raffel, Norton Critical Edition
(In the calendar DQ = ancillary readings, DQI and DQII = first and second parts of Don Quijote )
QT = Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction , Carroll B. Johnson
––Other:
BG = Background sources
CE = Critical essays
X = Xeroxed handout
NOTE: Read the assigned pages before the day on which they appear listed in the calendar.
The latter indicates the matter to be discussed during each class period.
January 21Monday -
January 23 Wednesday -
January 28 Monday -
Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Introduction to the course and some basic concepts
QT 1-18
January 30 Wednesday -
February 4 Monday -
February 6 Wednesday -
February 11 Monday -
February 13 Wednesday -
CPK–BG 1, 2, 3 –PP. 2-24
The Spanish Empire
CPK–BG 4,5–PP. 25-44
Gentlemen and Rogues (Hidalgos y pícaros)
CPK–BG 6–pp. 45-54
DQ 755-757, 757-761, 762-765, 765-767
X Lazarillo de Tormes
Spanish Literary History and Cervantes's Literary Sources
X Brief biography
QT xi-xiii
CPK–BG 7–PP. 55-79
DQ 749-753
DQ 847-853
Cervantes and Pierre Menard
DQ vii-xvi
QT 37-56
DQI 7-11
DQ 797-799 On the prologue
One Great Prologue and Other Readings
DQI 13-49
CPK–CE 1, 5–PP. 81-82 & 98-100
DQ 787-792 On identity
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February 18 Monday -
February 20 Wednesday -
February 25 Monday -
February 27 Wednesday -
March 4 Monday -
March 6 Wednesday -
March 11 Monday -
March 13 Wednesday -
March 15 Friday-
March 18-22
March 25 Monday -
March 27 Wednesday -
April 1 Monday -
April 3 Wednesday -
April 8 Monday -
April 10 Wednesday -
April 15 Monday -
April 17 Wednesday -
April 22 Monday -
April 24 Wednesday -
April 29 Monday -
May 1 Wednesday -
May 6 Monday -
May 8 Wednesday -
DQI 50-86
CPK–CE 6–PP. 101-111
DQ 799-805 On Marcela
DQI 86-127
CPK–CE 3–PP. 86-89
DQ 805-810 On the chain gang
DQI 127-160
DQ 784-787 On Dulcinea
DQI 160-202
CPK–CE 7–PP. 112-118 On Aldonza Lorenzo
DQI 203-241
DQI 241-278
DQ 810-814 On Dorotea
DQI 278-320
DQ 821-830 On Zoraida
DQI 320-355
Spring Semester Mid-Term
Spring Recess
QT 57-120
Don Quijote in Cinema
Don Quijote in Cinema
DQII 359-402
DQII 403-442
CPK–CE 2–PP. 82-86 On Sancho
DQII 442-479
DQII 479-521
DQ 834-839 On the Cave of Montesinos
DQII 521-558
DQII 559-598
DQII 598-640
DQII 640-675
DQ 830-833 On the Duke and the Duchess
DQII 675-716
DQII 716-746
DQ 839-846 On the end
GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATION
GROUP PROJECT PRESENTATION
Last Day of Classes
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