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.

In the work he considered his masterpiece, Persiles and Sigismunda, Cervantes finally explores the reality of woman--an abstraction largely idealized in his earlier writing. Traditional critics have perpetuated this disembodied ideal woman: "Every Man," claimed the translators of the 1706 Don Quixote, has "some darling Dulcinea of his Thoughts." As Diana de Armas Wilson shows, however, Cervantes himself envisioned the radical embodiment of "Dulcinea" in the later Persiles, a pan-European Renaissance allegory. Wilson illuminates Cervantes's strategic use of the ancient genre of Greek romance to contest various chivalric fictions about women, love, and marriage--fictions collapsing under the constraints of an emerging bourgeois culture. Taking as her subject Cervantes's erotic imperative--to leave behind "barbaric" notions of love in quest of a new conceptual space--Wilson demonstrates how the heroes of the Persiles, unlike Don Quixote, learn to cross the borders of difference. Their journey toward marriage is illustrated by thirteen inset "exemplary novels," perhaps the most exploratory of Cervantes's writings. Allegories of Love not only examines the fundamental importance of sexual and cultural difference in Cervantes's last romance, but also reveals the historical conditions of representation itself during the late Renaissance.

Originally published in 1991.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In the work he considered his masterpiece, Persiles and Sigismunda, Cervantes finally explores the reality of woman--an abstraction largely idealized in his earlier writing. Traditional critics have perpetuated this disembodied ideal woman: "Every Man," claimed the translators of the 1706 Don Quixote, has "some darling Dulcinea of his Thoughts." As Diana de Armas Wilson shows, however, Cervantes himself envisioned the radical embodiment of "Dulcinea" in the later Persiles, a pan-European Renaissance allegory. Wilson illuminates Cervantes's strategic use of the ancient genre of Greek romance to contest various chivalric fictions about women, love, and marriage--fictions collapsing under the constraints of an emerging bourgeois culture. Taking as her subject Cervantes's erotic imperative--to leave behind "barbaric" notions of love in quest of a new conceptual space--Wilson demonstrates how the heroes of the Persiles, unlike Don Quixote, learn to cross the borders of difference. Their journey toward marriage is illustrated by thirteen inset "exemplary novels," perhaps the most exploratory of Cervantes's writings. Allegories of Love not only examines the fundamental importance of sexual and cultural difference in Cervantes's last romance, but also reveals the historical conditions of representation itself during the late Renaissance. Originally published in 1991. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

About the Book

"An Early Modern Dialogue with Islam: Antonio de Sosa's "Topography of Algiers "(1612)" makes available in translation a riveting sixteenth-century chronicle of European and North African cultural contacts that is virtually unknown to English-speaking readers. The "Topography"was written by a Portuguese cleric, Doctor Antonio de Sosa, who was captured by Algerian corsairs in 1577 and held as a Barbary slave for over four years while awaiting ransom. Sosa's work is a fascinating description of a city at the crossroads of civilizations, with a sophisticated multilingual population of Turks, Arabs, Moriscos, Berbers, Jews, Christian captives, and converts to Islam from across the world.

In the "Topography of Algiers," Sosa meticulously describes the inhabitants' daily lives; their fashions, pastimes, feasts, and funerals; their government; the landmarks of the city itself; and much more. Readers will be struck by the vibrancy of his narrative, rendered into English with crisp accuracy by Diana de Armas Wilson. The "Topography" is a treasure trove of amazing customs, startling behavior, and historical anecdotes that will enthrall readers. The extensive introduction by Maria Antonia Garces is a superb archival study of the Mediterranean world described by the "Topography"," " as well as an expose of the adventurous, even scandalous, life of its author. The introduction also discusses the fraudulent publication of Sosa's "Topography"under another man's name.

Sosa's chronicle stands out for its complexity, vitality, and the sharpness of the author's ethnographic vision. No other account of captivity in this period offers such a detailed and dynamic tableau of Algerian society at the end of the sixteenth century.

"Long overdue, this translation and edition of Sosa's "Topografia" is an absolute gem. Sixteenth-century Algiers was the Mediterranean's crossroads, a meeting point and melting-pot for Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Sosa's survey literally brings this important city to life. It is all there: architecture, economy, and religion, plus pirates, renegades, slaves, marriage customs, and more. There is no better source for understanding the human complexity of the early modern Mediterranean world, and both Diana de Armas Wilson--for the translation--and Maria Antonia Garces--for the introduction and notes--deserve credit for their masterful achievement." --Richard L. Kagan, Johns Hopkins University

"This is a truly significant text for all scholars of early modern Europe, worthy of their greatest interest and attention. "An Early Modern Dialogue with Islam: Antonio de Sosa's "Topography of Algiers "(1612)"""marks a watershed in our understanding of the synergies of power and the nature of shifting identities along the borderlands of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe; this work stands as an example of interdisciplinary and cross-culture criticism at its best." --E. Michael Gerli, University of Virginia

"Maria Antonia Garces, author of the classic "Cervantes in Algiers: A Captive's Tale," crowns her scholarly achievements with a true masterpiece: "An Early Modern Dialogue with Islam: Antonio de Sosa's "Topography of Algiers "(1612)." Sosa's "Topografia" was formerly attributed to Diego de Haedo, but Professor Garces was able to solve the centuries-long mystery of the real authorship of the famous "Topography," thanks to her patient research in European archives. Garces's stunning discovery, furthermore, sheds new light on the life of Cervantes, for Sosa was not only his fellow captive in Algiers, but also his first biographer. As the foremost scholar on Cervantes's relationship with Algiers and the Mediterranean, Garces has joined forces with Wilson, a superb translator of Spanish texts. --Luce Lopez-Baralt, University of Puerto Rico

This book links the rise of the novel in imperial Spain to the birth of America in the European consciousness. Moving beyond an inventory of Cervantes's (1547-1616) references to the Indies - to Mexico, and Peru, cannibals and tobacco, parrots and alligators - this study interprets his novels as a cross-cultural achievement that ridicules the conquistador mentality.

A masterful new translation that comes as close as possible to re-creating the inimitable style of Cervantes' prose.

One of the world's great novels, Don Quijote chronicles the adventures of that bumbling, infinitely compassionate knight and his shrewdly simple squire, Sancho Panza, in all their splendid humor.

"Burton Raffel's translation of Don Quijote is fluent, strong, and engagingly readable. The narrative skill is such that we are soon willing to believe that Raffel is Cervantes reborn and writing in English."—Guy Davenport

"A most compelling volume indeed. Readers encountering Cervantes' boundless text in English will delight in this superb book."—Anthony J. Carcardi, University of California, Berkeley