Don Quixote Summary | Chapterly
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes: A Complete Summary "The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water." Overview Don Quixote (Part I: 1605, Part II: 1615) is widely considered the first modern novel and one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. Miguel de Cervantes tells the story of Alonso Quixano, a minor Spanish nobleman who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his grip on reality, renames himself Don Quixote de la Mancha, and sets out as a knight-errant to right wrongs and defend the helpless. The result is both the funniest and the most poignant novel of its era. Don Quixote mistakes windmills for giants, inns for castles, and a peasant girl for the noble lady Dulcinea. He is beaten, humiliated, and mocked at every turn. Yet his sincerity, courage, and unwavering commitment to his ideals give him a dignity that his tormentors lack. The novel asks a question that has never lost its urgency: is the man who believes in a better world mad, or is the world that has given up on ideals the truly insane one? Cervantes invented something new...