Don Quixote (Classic, HighBridge) | 
 enlarge | Author: Miguel De Cervantes Saavedra
Creator: Andrew Sachs
Publisher: Highbridge Audio
Category: Book
List Price: $16.95
Buy New: $5.00
You Save: $11.95 (71%)
New (3) from $5.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  95 reviews
Sales Rank: 1517438
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: 2 Audio Cassettes
Number Of Items: 2
Pages: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.4 x 0.7
ISBN: 156511180X
EAN: 9781565111806
ASIN: 156511180X
Publication Date: April 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Great condition
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Product Description
First published in 1605, Don Quixote was originally intended as a skit on traditional popular ballads and a parody of the romances of chilvalry. The addled idealism of Don Quixote, a poor country gentleman whose love of chivalric romances has driven him insane, and the earthy acquisitiveness of his squire, Sancho Panza, propel them into a series of adventures involving characters from every level of society. In Quixote's imagination he is a noble knight, issuing heroic challanges against absurdly everyday objects. Only the commen sense of Panza brings Quixote down to earth. More than an adventure story, Don Quixote is rich in characters--not only in its principal characters, but in the many minor personages, some of whom make only a single appearance. Together, they are as lively a bunch as ever Chaucer rode to Canterbury with. This audio recording re-creates the novel's marvelous characters, uproarious adventures, and exciting escapes in lively, contemporary English.
Download Description
The best-known book in Spanish literature, telling the story of the adventurous knight-errant and his squire Sancho Panzo, who set out to right the wrongs of the world.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 90 more reviews...
 Windmill wins again! July 24, 2008
944-page two-part near-classic is undone by its weak ending, but still stands as a masterpiece of literature. Considered a "first novel", DQ plays on themes of meaning, faith, and madness with great humor.
Cervantes wrote the book in two parts separated by a five-year hiatus (1605 and 1610) during which another author wrote a poorly-received second part, which Cervantes attacks repeatedly in his own followup.
As long as it is, the translation while "unabridged" does not translate all of the original Spanish. Part of the Oxford World's Classics" series, this translation is the famous Jarvis translation from 1742, which was long considered the classic translation. While modern language scholarship has revealed its inexactness, the Oxford version uses it because it best captures the feel if not the word-for-word meaning of the translation, and end notes identify where Jarvis has veered from the original to maintain rhymes, jokes, and puns.
 Without discretion there can be no humor July 16, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
'Don Quixote' is largely considered to be a satire on the popular chivalric ballads of Cervantes' day, but don't be fooled. This novel is no satire on chivalry, itself. Indeed, through the trials of Quixote and Sancho Panza, Cervantes is perhaps the greatest promoter of chivalric ideas that the West has ever known. No other protagonist so thoroughly embodies the ideals of heroism, romantic love, friendship, honor, discretion, trust, virtue, and adventure than does Don Quixote. It just so happens that he is insane, but the author is able to look beyond that. So too should the reader.
The knight's sallies are absolutely delightful and, it must be credited, alone prove Cervantes' genius in writing. The dialogue between Quixote and Sancho is excellent comedy, creating a duo that has gone unsurpassed in originality and endearment for five centuries. "Is it possible that Your Worship can be so thick skulled and brainless as to not perceive the truth of what I allege?" Classic.
But these adventures, hilarious as they may be, give us frame for a storehouse chivalric truisms, the like of which can be found in no other work of fiction. A sampling would include: "An author had better be applauded by the few that are wise than laughed at by the many that are foolish;" "Anyone who has been a good squire will never be a bad governor;" "There is a wide difference between flying and retreating; valor which is not founded on the base of discretion is termed temerity or rashness;" and "Whenever virtue shines in an emanant degree, she always meets with persecution."
The reader cannot help but to love such regal assuredness, such profound idealism. Ironically, Quixote's insanity never really contradicts his optimism and in fact vindicates it. It is commentary on the human condition that only the insane person can actually accomplish something virtuous. And after all the delusions are expired and all the fallacies uncovered, Don Quixote actually has accomplished everything he set out to achieve if only because he was noble enough to strive for it.
A note must be made on the translations. While much of the verbiage is straightforward, there are several repeated phrases that are different between the major translations, Quixote's moniker being one of the most important. In every translation I have seen, the name has been different--"The Knight of the Rueful Countenance," "The Knight of the Mournful Countenance," and "The Knight of the Sorrowful Face" are all used for the same phrase. I enjoyed the "Rueful Countenance" and found it to be well-suited for the style of the novel though I have not read other translations.
In the end, though, you cannot go wrong. 'Don Quixote' is a pure joy to read and we are fortunate to have the ability to do so.
Don Quixote June 21, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I love the story but have never been able to finish the book. I listened to this on a road trip to California and found it very enjoyable. They did cut a major section, but I guess that is what you contend with in an abridged version.
The best translation of the best novel August 25, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Don Quixote well deserves its place in the pantheon of world classics. For me, it's the ultimate desert island book. It is simply an indescribable jewel, full of fun, hilarity, adventure, beauty, wisdom, social commentary, tragedy, and entertainment. And I believe that J.M. Cohen's translation is the best there is. He obviously had a love for the material and left us a beautifully rendered work. The encomium in his Times obituary was on the mark when it said that he was "the translator of foreign prose classics for our times."
Beautiful! January 22, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
The translation is perfect except, as the translator has noted, on the poems found through out the book. The book itself is just plain beautiful, the author, Cervantes, is a master of prose and creativity, not to mention he has a great sense of humor. In my opinion, he is not too far off from Shakespeare. A+
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