When an ageing, impoverished nobleman decides to style himself "Don Quixote" and embarks upon a series of daring endeavours, it is clear that his ability to distinguish between reality and the fantasy world of literary romance has broken down. His exploits turn into comic misadventures, in which everyday objects are transformed into the accoutrements of chivalry, peasant girls become princesses and windmills are mistaken for formidable giants, leading the hero and his squire Sancho Panza into the realms of absurdity and humiliation. Renowned for its comical set pieces, Don Quixote is a profound meditation on the relationship between truth and fiction and the morality of deception, as well as the foundation stone of the modern novel.

In a sleepy village, a retired gentleman is consumed with tales of chivalry. Seeing no impediments, such as logic, propriety or sanity, to fulfilling his dreams, this would-be hero reinvents himself as the Knight-Errant, Don Quixote. He sets out across the arid open country in search of adventures accompanied only his dim-witted squire, Sancho Panza.

The second volume of Don Quixote is much darker than the first, picking up the story where Volume I left off and taking us to Don Quixote's death. Don Quixote battles cats, puppets and the famous Knight of the Mirrors. He plunges head first into the legendary Cave of Montesinos and seeks to disenchant his imaginary truelove Dulcinea del Toboso, who is imprisoned there. Meanwhile Sancho Panza is finally given an island to rule over by the Duke and Duchess who, like many characters Quixote and Sancho meet in Vol II, have read Vol I. The Duke and Duchess play endless cruel tricks on our heroes and slowly our heroes’ madness and foolishness becomes painfully apparent. On his deathbed Quixote becomes Alonso once more, he finally denies the existence of Giants, Knights, Damsels and to Sancho’s horror he denies there ever was a Don Quixote de la Mancha. Sancho begs that they should ride out one more time, but it is too late Alonso Quixana is dead.

Widely regarded as one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. Together they journey through sixteenth-century Spain in search of adventure, taking on spirits, evil enchanters and giants in a quest to perform acts of valour worthy of Dulcinea, his lady love.

A masterpiece of world fiction and a brilliant satire on traditional romances, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes is not only the world’s first modern novel – it is also an uproarious comedy that continues to delight readers today.

This Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of Don Quixote is translated by the acclaimed J. M. Cohen and features an afterword by writer and journalist Ned Halley.

Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector’s Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much-loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector’s Library are books to love and treasure.

‘Didn’t I tell you they were only windmills? And only someone with windmills on the brain could have failed to see that!’

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading romances of chivalry that he determines to become a knight errant and pursue bold adventures, accompanied by his squire, the cunning Sancho Panza. As they roam the world together, the aging Quixote’s fancy leads them wildly astray. At the same time the relationship between the two men grows in fascinating subtlety. Often considered to be the first modern novel, Don Quixote is a wonderful burlesque of the popular literature its disordered protagonist is obsessed with.

John Rutherford’s landmark translation does full justice to the energy and wit of Cervantes’s prose. His introduction discusses the traditional works parodied in Don Quixote, as well as issues surrounding literary translation.

Voted greatest book of all time by the Nobel Institute

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HAROLD BLOOM. Widely regarded as the world's first modern novel, and one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the famous picaresque adventures of the noble knight-errant Don Quixote de La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. Unless you read Spanish, you've never read Don Quixote.

Best known today as the author of "Don Quixote"--one of the most beloved and widely read novels in the Western tradition--Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was a poet and a playwright as well. After some early successes on the Madrid stage in the 1580s, his theatrical career was interrupted by other literary efforts. Yet, eager to prove himself as a playwright, shortly before his death he published a collection of his later plays before they were ever performed.With their depiction of captives in North Africa and at the Ottoman court, two of these, "The Bagnios of Algiers" and "The Great Sultana," draw heavily on Cervantes's own experiences as a captive, and echo important episodes in "Don Quixote." They are set in a Mediterranean world where Spain and its Muslim neighbors clashed repeatedly while still remaining in close contact, with merchants, exiles, captives, soldiers, and renegades frequently crossing between the two sides. The plays provide revealing insights into Spain's complex perception of the world of Mediterranean Islam.Despite their considerable literary and historical interest, these two plays have never before been translated into English. This edition presents them along with an introductory essay that places them in the context of Cervantes's drama, the early modern stage, and the political and cultural relations between Christianity and Islam in the early modern period.

This Norton Critical Edition includes: Burton Raffel's masterful translation ("Indeed, Raffel seems to have created a Cervantine English" - Javier Herrero, University of Virginia), lightly revised by Diana de Armas Wilson and including the translator's note. A revised and expanded introduction as well as revised and expanded explanatory footnotes by Diana de Armas Wilson. A rich selection of contextual materials, including related writings by Cervantes and his contemporaries as well as a modern account of Don Quijote's influence over five centuries. Fifteen critical essays-seven of them new to the Second Edition-thematically organised to maximise classroom discussion. The new essays are by Ilan Stavans, Anne J. Cruz, Paul Michael Johnson, Pablo Garcia-Pin~ar, Anthony J. Cascardi, Barbara Fuchs and Andres Lema-Hincapie. A chronology and a selected bibliography.

"Don Quixote looms so wonderfully above the skylines of literature, a gaunt giant on a lean nag, that the book lives and will live through his sheer vitality...The parody has become a paragon."-Vladimir Nabokov "A more profound and powerful work than this is not to be met with...The final and greatest utterance of the human mind."- Fyodor Dostoyevsky Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is regarded not only as the first modern novel, but also as one of the most important works of fiction ever produced. The subtle and hopeful irony, resplendent variety of characters and its thoroughly entertaining sense of adventure and friendship has dazzled readers for more than four hundred years. It was published in Spain in two volumes, first in 1605 then followed by the second in 1615. Cervantes' use of realism and everyday language in Don Quixote was revolutionary at the time, and its influence on the development of literature may only be surpassed by the work of Shakespeare. In the opening of this extraordinary book, Alonso Quijano, a noble living in sixteenth-century Spain, has become consumed with the act of reading, and subsequently assumes the identity of the chivalrous knights that he loves to read about. Transformed into Don Quixote, he embarks on his first ill-fated journey as a "knight". The defeated Quixote returns home, to only prepare himself better for the next adventure of delusion. On his second journey Quixote has enlisted the peasant Sancho Panza to appropriate the role of his squire. Although the duo is ridiculously mismatched in every sense, their inextricable bond is one of the most fascinating of friendships ever created on paper. Between their disordered adventures -of battling windmills and herds of sheep and endless mishaps- are the stories of those who are encountered on the journey. The book eventually becomes a hall of mirrors, and Cervantes explores preconceptions of narrative, reliability, and morality that are strikingly modern. Ultimately, Quixote's preposterous fantasies become haunting as the reader of this book will surely begin to question what is real and what is not. The story of Don Quixote has been adapted into numerous forms, including opera, musicals, ballets, music and film. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Don Quixote is both modern and readable.

Edith Grossman's definitive English translation of the Spanish masterpiece. Widely regarded as one of the funniest and most tragic books ever written, Don Quixote chronicles the adventures of the self-created knight-errant Don Quixote of La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, as they travel through sixteenth-century Spain. You haven't experienced Don Quixote in English until you've read this masterful translation.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Considered by many as the greatest of all Spanish authors, Miguel de Cervantes is most well-known of course for "Don Quixote," a work of such literary impact that its historical importance cannot be understated. Unfortunately Cervantes' other works are often overlooked and characterized as inferior to his masterpiece. While his other writings never gained the popularity of "Don Quixote," he did author several other works that are worthy of consideration. Amongst these is the pastoral romance "La Galatea." First published in 1585, it is the story of Elicio and Erastro, best friends who are enamored with Galatea. Along with their friend Floria, the four of them travel to the wedding of Daranio and Silveri. Along the way they meet numerous other characters, who their own tell stories, as they continue on their journey to the wedding. Interspersed within the prose is a rich collection of poems that would inform the lyrical direction in which Cervantes would go for the rest of his career.

Complete and unabridged, "Don Quixote" is the epic tale of the man from La Mancha and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza. Their picaresque adventures in the world of seventeenth-century Spain form the basis of one of the great treasures of Western literature.
In a new translation that "comes closest, among the modern translations, to the simple, intimate, direct style that characterizes Cervantes' narrative,"* "Don Quixote" is a novel that is both immortal satire of an outdated chivalric code and a biting portrayal of an age in which nobility was a form of madness.
*John J. Allen, Professor Emeritus of Spanish, University of Kentucky and Past President of the Cervantes Society of America

"Don Quixote looms so wonderfully above the skylines of literature, a gaunt giant on a lean nag, that the book lives and will live through his sheer vitality...The parody has become a paragon."-Vladimir Nabokov "A more profound and powerful work than this is not to be met with...The final and greatest utterance of the human mind."- Fyodor Dostoyevsky Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote is regarded not only as the first modern novel, but also as one of the most important works of fiction ever produced. The subtle and hopeful irony, resplendent variety of characters and its thoroughly entertaining sense of adventure and friendship has dazzled readers for more than four hundred years. It was published in Spain in two volumes, first in 1605 then followed by the second in 1615. Cervantes' use of realism and everyday language in Don Quixote was revolutionary at the time, and its influence on the development of literature may only be surpassed by the work of Shakespeare. In the opening of this extraordinary book, Alonso Quijano, a noble living in sixteenth-century Spain, has become consumed with the act of reading, and subsequently assumes the identity of the chivalrous knights that he loves to read about. Transformed into Don Quixote, he embarks on his first ill-fated journey as a "knight". The defeated Quixote returns home, to only prepare himself better for the next adventure of delusion. On his second journey Quixote has enlisted the peasant Sancho Panza to appropriate the role of his squire. Although the duo is ridiculously mismatched in every sense, their inextricable bond is one of the most fascinating of friendships ever created on paper. Between their disordered adventures -of battling windmills and herds of sheep and endless mishaps- are the stories of those who are encountered on the journey. The book eventually becomes a hall of mirrors, and Cervantes explores preconceptions of narrative, reliability, and morality that are strikingly modern. Ultimately, Quixote's preposterous fantasies become haunting as the reader of this book will surely begin to question what is real and what is not. The story of Don Quixote has been adapted into numerous forms, including opera, musicals, ballets, music and film. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Don Quixote is both modern and readable.

With stories about love, culture, adventure, religious differences and shocking endings, Exemplary Stories features dynamic protagonists and challenges tradition. Featuring twelve novellas, Exemplary Stories features a diverse array of protagonists, accompanied by captivating prose. Among this collection of short fiction is The Little Gypsy Girl, a story about a wise, talented and beautiful young woman who requires her noble suitor to leave his old life behind and become a gypsy in order to win her hand in marriage. Using irony to expose the social contrasts in a rich city, Rinconte and Cortadillo features two thieves that travel to a new town with intentions to join a guild of criminals. The Liberal Lover depicts a couple who take each other for granted. During the downfall of their relationship, a tragic event separates the two, causing them to reconsider the way they treat each other. Inviting discussion on the pivotal role mental health plays in daily life, The Lawyer of Glass depicts a handsome young man named Thomas, who is well-known for his intelligence. Enamored by Thomas, a local woman brews a love potion and gets Thomas to drink it, unintentionally poisoning him. Though he is able to physically recover, Thomas is convinced that he is made of glass, changing him in a way the woman never intended to. Exemplary Stories features twelve of Miquel de Cervantes' exceptional works of short fiction, each crafted with enthralling prose and thought-provoking plot that cater to curiosity and a sense of adventure. With an aesthetically pleasing approach, Cervantes crafted this collection to address social and moral issues. Since its publication in 1613, Exemplary Stories has inspired dramatic adaptations, and have inspired many writers. With shocking endings, complex conflicts, and adventurous settings, Exemplary Stories by Miguel de Cervantes continues to surprise and delight readers even four-hundred years later. This edition of Exemplary Stories by Miguel de Cervantes features twelve works of short fiction and has been redesigned with the modern reader in mind. With an eye-catching cover and an easy-to-read font, the excellence and awe of Exemplary Stories reaches the contemporary audience with ease.