Buzz
Even if you’ve never read Miguel de Cervantes’s The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, you’ve likely heard of its tale—a delusional knight, his rotund squire, and their battles with windmill giants. Yet, there are some surprising details about this 17th-century two-part literary gem that might still be new to you.
1. Don Quixote is hailed as the pioneer of the modern novel.
Renowned figures like acclaimed literary critic Harold Bloom and celebrated novelist Carlos Fuentes have proclaimed Don Quixote as the earliest true modern novel. Bloom highlights the transformative journeys of the protagonist and his sidekick Sancho Panza as key elements that set it apart, while Fuentes emphasizes the depth of dialogue and character development as what distinguishes it from earlier works.
2. The idea for Don Quixote struck Cervantes during his time in prison.
Before achieving literary fame, Miguel de Cervantes faced the common struggle of balancing work and creativity. He worked as a tax collector for the Spanish government, but discrepancies in his accounts led to his imprisonment in the Crown Jail of Seville twice between 1597 and 1602. It was during these stints behind bars that Cervantes is thought to have conceived the story that would later become Don Quixote.
3. The protagonist of Don Quixote was named after Cervantes’s wife’s uncle.
In the second volume of Don Quixote, Cervantes discloses that his hero’s true name is Alonso Quixano (or “Quijano”). This name was inspired by Alonso de Quesada y Salazar, the great uncle of Cervantes’s wife, Catalina de Salazar y Palacios, whom he married in 1584. Alonso is thought to have influenced not just the name but also the personality of the novel’s protagonist. Additionally, the name Quixote derives from the term for "thigh armor."
4. Cervantes promoted Don Quixote: Part II in the preface of another work.
In 1613, Cervantes published the 12-part novella series Novelas ejemplares, which he had written gradually over the eight years following the release of the first volume of Don Quixote. The preface to this collection not only introduced the new stories but also hinted at a forthcoming sequel to the unfinished tale of the Gentleman of La Mancha. (This early promotion of a future book within an unrelated work can be likened to today’s movie trailers.) The second volume of Don Quixote eventually appeared in 1615.
5. A counterfeit version of Don Quixote: Part II was released as a hoax.
A year after Cervantes’s teaser in Novelas ejemplares, a dubious sequel emerged, authored by someone using the alias Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda. This unauthorized addition to the Don Quixote series was widely criticized for its subpar writing and its harsh jabs at Cervantes and his original work.
6. The fake sequel is believed to have spurred Cervantes to complete his own version.
While Cervantes had already expressed his intention to conclude Don Quixote with a second volume, the Avellaneda incident is thought to have pushed him to act. The sham sequel infuriated Cervantes so much that he referenced it in his own Part II, condemning its inferior quality and misinterpretation of his characters and narrative.
7. Don Quixote played a pivotal role in shaping modern Spanish.
The Spanish dialect Cervantes used in his novel was relatively new in the early 17th century and is far more recognizable to today’s Spanish speakers than the vernacular of that time. The widespread acclaim of Don Quixote solidified this modern form of Spanish, which is now the second most spoken language globally, trailing only Mandarin.
8. Cervantes’s time in captivity influenced his writing of Don Quixote.
A poignant moment in the novel involves Don Quixote and Sancho Panza liberating a group of galley slaves. Cervantes’s deep empathy for these characters likely stems from his own harrowing experiences as a captive in Algiers during the 1570s, where he endured five years of enslavement and made multiple escape attempts.
9. Don Quixote is credited with popularizing a well-known expression.
The popular saying “the proof is in the pudding” is a common expression today. This phrase is actually a shortened version of the more logical but less catchy original, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating.” While the latter has origins in 14th-century Middle English and appeared in various forms over the centuries, the modern version is thought to have first appeared in an 18th-century English translation of Don Quixote. Translator Pierre Antoine Motteux introduced this phrasing, replacing Cervantes’ original line: “al freír de los huevos lo verá,” which means “you will see when the eggs are fried.”
10. The initial translation of Don Quixote was overly literal.
The first English translation of Don Quixote was done by Dublin-based author Thomas Shelton and published in 1608. Shelton lacked the creative flair of later translators like Motteux. His strict adherence to Cervantes’ wording often led to awkward translations. For example, instead of using “inches” for Cervantes’ idiomatic “dedos,” Shelton opted for the literal “fingers.”
11. A renowned author named Don Quixote as his favorite literary figure.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the celebrated Russian novelist, frequently expressed his admiration for Don Quixote. In a letter to his niece Sophia Ivanova, Dostoevsky praised Cervantes’ hero as the ultimate literary character: “Among all the noble figures in Christian literature, Don Quixote stands as the most perfect,” noting, “but his beauty lies in his absurdity.”
12. A prestigious organization declared Don Quixote the greatest literary work of all time.
In 2002, the Norwegian Book Club conducted a survey of renowned authors from 54 countries to compile a list of the top 100 books ever written, known as the Bokklubben World Library. While the list includes works ranging from the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh to José Saramago’s 1995 novel Blindness, it makes a special exception for Don Quixote, which it hails as “the best literary work ever written.”
13. Don Quixote has been translated into over 50 languages.
Today, Don Quixote is available in numerous languages, including Spanish, Catalan, Galician, Basque, Latin, English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Romanian, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Hindi, Irish, Gaelic, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Greek, Turkish, Serbian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Slovenian, Latvian, Estonian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Georgian, Esperanto, Yiddish, and Braille.
14. Cervantes did not financially benefit from the success of Don Quixote.
Despite the instant success of the 1605 novel, Cervantes earned almost nothing from its publication, as 17th-century authors typically received no royalties for their works. This system was particularly unfair in the case of Don Quixote, given its immense popularity and influence.
15. Don Quixote could be the best-selling novel in history.
Due to the novel’s age, it’s challenging to determine its exact sales figures, but many experts believe it has reached around 500 million readers. If accurate, this would make it the best-selling novel of all time, surpassing Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities (200 million) and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy (150 million).
Discover more intriguing facts and tales about your favorite authors and their works in Mytour's latest book, The Curious Reader: A Literary Miscellany of Novels and Novelists, available now!
