Welcome back to Hardcore Literature. Today, we're talking about a book that is very near and dear to my heart, a very special book, one that I have spent the last few months lecturing on, and this show will be my examination of the psychic residue left over from that special experience.

We're talking about one of my favorite novels of all time, Don Quixote de la Mancha by Servantes.

If you would like a deep dive, paste, group reading experience with this novel and many more,

then we have over eight hours of video content on this book and a discussion that grows deeper each and every day

over at the Hardcore Literature Book Club at patreon.com forward slash hardcore literature.

For now, these are my thoughts about Don Quixote and spoiler warning.

I will be discussing plot details along the way. Now, first things first, before we get into talking about the novel,

if you're interested in reading the novel, perhaps you've read it before and abandoned it,

well, I would like to recommend my favoured translation, because translation makes all the

difference, especially with this novel. There are some very good translations,

and there are some quite dire translations. I won't go super in-depth here, because if you go over

to the YouTube channel, my one, we have a comparison of nine different translations. I believe

at time of recording we have 25

translations into English and they can vary in quite alarming degrees. The first translation I

personally picked up was the motto translation and some people like it. I found it way too

antiquated and archaic and it really hindered my

appreciation of the story. Now, when I came to the John Rutherford translation, so 2000 translation,

freely available in Penguin Paperback everywhere that sells books, the John Rutherford made the story come alive. The Rutherford made

the humour come alive. And the first thing that I noticed upon my first reading of Don Quixote

was just how hilarious it is. Now, it's the kind of hilarity that suits one with a bit of an

immature sense of humor.

If you like Forelli Brothers movies, this book would very much suit you.

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