Don Quijote (Norton Critical Editions) [Paperback]

Miguel De Cervantes (Author), Diana de Armas Wilson (Editor), Burton Raffel (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1999 | ISBN-10: 039397281X | ISBN-13: 978-0393972818 | Edition: 2

The text reprinted here is based on award-winning translator Burton Raffel’s masterful translation of Don Quijote, which is consistent, fluid, and modeled closely on the original Spanish.

"Backgrounds and Context" invites readers to explore the creative process that culminated in the publication of Don Quijote.  Included are selections from works parodied by Cervantes (Amadis of Gaul and Orlando Furioso) and a portion of the spurious sequel to Part 1 written by Fernándes de Avellaneda.

"Criticisms" presents fifteen major interpretations of both the novel and selected episodes, describing Cervantes’ intellectual milieu, revealing how he infused new life into the literary modes and motifs he had inherited, and illustrating the fundamental importance of Don Quijote in the history of modern fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A translator of Horace, Balzac, Rabelais, and Salvador Espriu, as well as a theorist (The Art of Translating Prose, Pennsylvania State Univ. Pr., 1994), Raffel (Univ. of Southwest Louisiana) undertook the formidable task of translating Cervantes's masterpiece because he was uncomfortable recommending any of the existing translations. There are some real differences here. Raffel has junked the traditional transcription of Cide Hamete, the pseudoauthor, in favor of the less "colonialist" and more authentic Arabic, Sidi Hamid. Proper names that contain puns are explained within square brackets, and footnotes are kept to a minimum. A more vernacular style reigns: The blow on the neck and the stroke on the shoulder that dub Don Quijote a knight are, respectively, a "whack" and a "tap." The women at the inn, usually called "wenches," are "party-girls" or "whores." Sancho dreams that his "old lady" will someday be a queen and that his "kids" will be princes. In the proofs, "Castile" has been misspelled as "Castille," an oversight one would hope to see corrected in the final book. This is a lively alternative to the wide assortment of truly old-fashioned translations. Recommended.?Jack Shreve, Allegany Community Coll., Cumberland, Md.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Raffel has managed, by extremely careful research, to keep the flavor of the late-seventeenth-century Spanish, at the same time that the English is very smooth. . . . Indeed, Raffel seems to have created a Cervantine English. -- Javier Herrero, University of Virginia

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 880 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 2 edition (January 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039397281X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393972818
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #224,741 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

208 of 212 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Raffel vs. Grossman March 21, 2005

By Philip Haldeman

Format:Paperback

I've spent a bit of time comparing the early pages of Burton Raffel's decade-old rendition with Edith Grossman's brand new one. Both are excellent, so you can't go wrong---and I think either would be a better choice for most people than past translations. I've chosen Raffel's, though, based not only on word choices (and I think some people need to lower their antennae when it comes to things such as Sancho referring to his "kids", which seems quite natural), but on Raffel's better balanced, more focused style, and his clarity of phrasing (which also involves word choices). Raffel's style overall is traditional. Grossman seems to jump between the literal, which is sometimes confusing, and the breezy and modern, which is enjoyable but not as wry and witty as Raffel's balanced approach.

For example, Grossman's description after our hero has tried to grapple with the philosophical convolutions of de Silva: "With these words and phrases the poor gentleman lost his mind, and he spent sleepless nights trying to understand them, and extract their meaning. . . ." Raffel writes: "Arguments like these cost the poor gentleman his sanity; he'd lie awake at night, trying to understand them, to puzzle out their meaning. . . ." A minor example, but with Raffel's rhythm and word choice you can almost visualize the old fellow lying awake trying to "puzzle out" the "arguments"---not just "words and phrases," per se. Raffel is often more subtly attuned. Notice also that "cost the poor gentleman his sanity" is not as modern-sounding as "lost his mind." So don't think that because Raffel uses a few modern word choices for the sake of vigor that he's less distinguished.

Grossman again:

"His fantasy filled with everything he had read in his books, enchantments as well as combats, battles, challenges, wounds, courtings, loves, torments, and other impossible foolishness, and he became so convinced in his imagination of the truth of all the countless grandiloquent and false inventions he read that for him no history in the world was truer."

Raffel:

"He filled his imagination full to bursting with everything he read in his books, from witchcraft to duels, battles, challenges, wounds, flirtations, love affairs, anguish, and impossible foolishness, packing it all so firmly into his head that these sensational schemes and dreams became the literal truth and, as far as he was concerned, there were no more certain histories anywhere on earth."

Grossman's sentence is more difficult to scan, and less concrete. Raffel's clear, no less fine prose in paragraphs like this brings the character of Don Quixote to life.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding! August 27, 1998

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

As he has with previous translations, Raffel has again proved himself a master at providing an old classic in a fresh and readable way. This edition is even more vitally rendered than the Putnam translation or the Cohen one. While it's true that this work reads more like a loose collection of short stories than like the sort of tightly organized novels we expect today, it still remains an old friend to many of us, and for first readers this translation is direct and passionate.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Miraculous translation. Miraculous book. January 30, 2001

By Andy Todes

Format:Paperback

My desert island choice? I think so. Funny as hell and beautifully written. How on earth did Cervantes create this sprawling masterpiece which sounds like it was written yesterday ALMOST 400 YEARS AGO? Before you ride into the sunset with "Don Quijote" take a look at Fadiman's brief synopsis in "The New Lifetime Reading Plan." But ignore his suggestions on translations, written BEFORE Raffel's peerless translation was published.