My copy of Don Quixote is showing some serious wear, but it seems sort of appropriate really, considering what Don Quixote has managed to put up with for some 500+ pages. I take him with me every day on my morning bus ride and read at least a chapter or two. He tends to get slammed around in my book bag, and a rip has appeared in the cover, but he has been my companion for these last twelve weeks or so, and I have gotten quite used to him. Victoria just wrote about getting a big dose of DQ. I know if I attempted to read 50-60 pages in one go each week, it wouldn't happen. For some reason I can't read DQ fast. I definitely need to read more than a few pages at a time here and there, however. So daily readings seem to work the best for me. On occasion I think how nice it would be to take a different book with me in the morning, but when I eventually finish I think I am going to feel sort of bereft not to have DQ with me.
I feel like I am reading rather superficially, however. I feel like I should be taking notes, or writing more posts about DQ's adventures. Instead I am just letting the story wash over me and letting myself be entertained. I wonder if I have approached this particular book in the wrong way. Is there a wrong way to read a book? Am I missing all the wonderful insights in this book that make it so great? Or does that all come later in discussion and further readings? I have a feeling that sometime later when I am reading something else entirely I am going to have this wonderful epiphany and things are going to mesh and I am going to see just why DQ is considered so great.
I really do think I am going to look at the world in an ever so slightly different way than did before reading Don Quixote. I think that there are situations in life that are very Don Quixote-esque. The film Lost in La Mancha seems the perfect example. I came across this purely by chance at the library. I have yet to watch it, but I am quite looking forward to it. Has anyone seen it? A description of the film:
"For years, one of filmmaker Terry Gilliam's great dreams was to make a screen adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's classic tale Don Quixote, and in 2000 it looked as if his dream was to become a reality. In collaboration with Tony Grisoni, Gilliam had written a script called The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, in which a 20th century advertising man accidentally travels back in time and is mistaken by Don Quixote for his faithful companion, Sancho Panza. After ten years of shopping the project to American studios with no success, Gilliam and his producers had secured financing for the film from a consortium of European sources, and Johnny Depp had been cast as the time-tripping adman, with the venerable French actor Jean Rochefort as Don Quixote. However, as the production moved closer to its start date, more and more things began to go wrong -- contracts went unsigned, key cast and crew members had not yet arrived, and the carefully prepared budget seemed stressed to the breaking point. Nevertheless, Gilliam soldiered on, but after a mere six days of shooting, during which Spanish Air Force jets ruined several takes, flash floods destroyed several sets, and Gilliam struggled to keep his dream afloat, Rochefort suffered a severe back injury. The film's financiers decided to cash in their chips and pulled the plug in order to cash in on their insurance, though Gilliam struggled for months afterward to find a way to put the production back on track. Documentary filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe had been invited by Gilliam to make a film about the production of The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, and after shooting 80 hours of footage of the chaotic pre-production process as well as the aborted shooting schedule, they instead created Lost In La Mancha, a look at the "un-making" of the film, which along with the story of the project's brief rise and messy collapse, featured a look at several completed scenes from the film, as well as animated versions of the film's storyboards which offered a glimpse of the look and scale of the film Gilliam was attempting to create."
Why does it seem strangely appropriate--or at least not surprising--that the film should not have been finished--"un-made" such as it was? All very Don Quixote-esque, I say.
I saw Lost in La Mancha. It has Johnny Depp in it, so of course, I've seen it. Parts of it are very funny.
Posted by: adrienne | July 17, 2007 at 06:20 PM
I'm reading Don Quixote in the same way -- bits and pieces here and there -- and I'm wondering if I'm missing something by reading it that way. I mean, I'm enjoying it, but I wonder if I'm not focusing on it like I could. But I really don't think there's a wrong way to read a book -- there are benefits to reading it in small chunks -- like not getting overwhelmed by it.
Posted by: Dorothy W. | July 17, 2007 at 06:32 PM
Correct me if I am wrong but isn't Don Quixote rather episodic in structure? In which case, perhaps it isn't your reading process that is at fault, but your expectation of the text's flow?
Posted by: Jill | July 17, 2007 at 06:39 PM
Adrienne--I really (ahem) like Johnny Depp as well, but I had no idea about this movie. I am looking forward to watching it. I wonder if it gives away the ending of DQ? But does it matter?
Dorothy--I was able to totally concentrate on War and Peace and read 50 or more pages a day, but for some reason I totally can't imagine myself doing that for DQ. I am happy just to have stuck it out this well for this long. And I am enjoying it--I probably worry too much about finding all of life's answers (or something) from a book, that I should be getting from DQ. If that makes any sense. This seems like such an iconic book, I feel like I should be doing something special--but it is a book--so surely Cervantes set out to entertain as much as anything?
Jill--It is very episodic. I think I worry too much about certain books. I am actually very much enjoying the story, though, no matter how crazy or silly or meandering it is!
Posted by: Danielle | July 17, 2007 at 09:36 PM
Hello!I should've left my this comment on yesterday's your blog, but my kids kept me busy yesterday! Sorry!
I introduce you some books written by Japanese authors. I wish I could tell you more, but many of them haven't translated into English yet!
Yukio Mishima; He is my favourite authors! I suppose you know his name. "The Temple of the Golden Pavillion" is best for me, but some of my friends said, "it makes us tired." Let me know what you think of it when you are done. His other books are excellent as well.
Osamu Dazai; Also I love his books, especially, "No Longer Human" and "The Setting Sun." I suppose these are his autobiograhies. He reminds me Albert Camus.
Haruki Murakami; Two authors I mentioned above are dead already, but Haruki Murakami is alive! "Norwegian Wood" is very famous for foreigners. Actually, when I read it, I was too young, so I have to reread it someday.He is also a translator from English to Japanese.
I wanted to link each book, but I don't know how, sorry. (The address of Amazon.com is too long, so that's why I didn't want to copy it on this.)But you can find the books on Amazon com. I will introduce more books later.
I've been accepted the Univ. of Illinois online English degree program, and the first class will begin on August 26th. I am very excited, but before I was pregnant for the second boy, I applied. So I am very happy for being accepted, but I have to think how to manage my time...
Posted by: Masayo | July 18, 2007 at 03:24 AM
I watched Lost in La Mancha and found it entertaining, but it left me glad that Gilliam didn't get to finish it. As much as I long for a great Don Quixote film, Gilliam was going to play with the story too much for my tastes.
I love Gilliam's Brazil and The Fisher King, but don't mess with the Knight of the Sorrowful Face!
Posted by: Nick | July 18, 2007 at 07:50 AM
I've seen Lost in La Mancha and enjoyed it. Like Nick I am sort of glad Gilliam didn't finish it, but I also wish he had because the actor they got to play DQ was so perfect.
Posted by: Stefanie | July 18, 2007 at 07:54 AM
I put book darts in passages of books that I am reading. I later go back and re read the darted sections.
There is no wrong or right way to read.
Go with the flow.
Posted by: Isabel | July 18, 2007 at 09:40 AM
That's sort of how I'm reading DQ although in lots of little spurts so I'm still very behind. I flag pages that I might want to re-read later but am not taking any notes. Oddly enough I feel like the story is still very present. If I was doing this with another book I would probably not remember as much or I might even lose interest.
Posted by: iliana | July 18, 2007 at 12:32 PM
I feel the same "void" when I finished a chunkster like DQ. My copy of Brothers Karamazov has shown serious wear after this read, but it survived all the bumping around in my messenger bag.
Posted by: Matt | July 18, 2007 at 02:07 PM
I haven't managed to get my hands on a copy of this film, but I've been dying to see it.
Posted by: Isabella | July 19, 2007 at 09:37 PM
Masayo--Thanks so much for the list!! I am in the mood to read some Japanese literature after finishing the NF book I mentioned earlier this week. I am familiar with Mishima and Murakami (though have never read their work), but not Dazai. I will have to pick one of their books to read soon! Congrats on getting into the U. of Illinois english degree program. Hopefully your load won't be too bad and you can manage with the children! You'll have to tell me how it goes!
Nick--I didn't even realize anyone had tried to make a movie of it. I can't imagine how it would be done--there's too much to the story--so I understand your feelings about being happy it was never made.
Stefanie--I am looking forward to watching it. I am curious to see what their DQ looks like.
Isabel--I have those book darts and also those flags that are post it notes. I use them sometimes, but they never seem to be handy when I want one. I need to use them more--for certain books at least.
Iliana--It does seem easy to pick up and get back into the thread of the story--it helps that the chapters are almost stories all their own.
Matt--There are some books you sort of live with so long that it is weird to finish them. I like the lived in look my copy is getting actually.
Isabella--I'm very surprised to have spotted it at my library. Usually there isn't much of a selection and they are always checked out, so I never quite know what they have or what to look for. It does look very interesting! I hope you manage to find a copy.
Posted by: Danielle | July 19, 2007 at 10:15 PM
I'm in a Don Quixote and the Modern World seminar class at Grinnell College and all of our copies got beat up easily. It was incredible how easily the front covers threatened to come off. Maybe the publishing company should consider a more solid cover for a book that long and intense. Readers are likely to try and "get comfortable" with a book like that and that sometimes includes bending the cover back, etc. and the general long time it takes to read it, means the cover is constantly being maneuvered. We had quite a few covers that just fell right off. It took us a little less than a semester to read it. and we ended up having the absolute BEST time discussion all the myriads of interpretations for the myriads of episodes.
Posted by: Kelly | December 08, 2007 at 12:29 PM