Don Quixote by Miquel de Cervantes: Chapter 1, Paragraph 1
PARAGRAPH ONE
TIM-ELVIS' OBSERVATIONS ON THIS PARAGRAPH:
This is a long paragraph. It has been translated from Spanish so we have that to contend with. And some of the syntax is awkward. The story is not being told by one of the characters. I think this is called third person narrative, but I may be mistaken. It has been quite a few years since I took advanced humanities.
Let's look at the first sentence: We can assume that the story is set somewhere in the village of La Mancha (it helps knowing in advance that the musical version of Don Quixote is called Man of La Mancha). We are introduced to the main character. He keeps a lance or spear in his house along with a shield (old buckler), a skinny horse (hack) and dog for hunting.
Okay, now the second sentence: The main character spends three quarters of his money on food. He eats stewed meats (olla) that is more often beef than mutton. He eats a salad almost ever night. He has leftovers on Saturdays. He eats lentils on Fridays so he is very likely a Catholic. The Sunday meal sometimes includes a pigeon.
Third sentence: The rest of his income is spent on clothing. He has one nice jacket made out of nice cloth and a pair of velvet pants (try not to read anything into this). He only wears these on holidays. Most days he wears clothing made out of homespun materials which rules out polyester.
Fourth sentence: The man has a housekeeper who is over 40-years old. His niece lives with him. She is under 20 years old. A young man also lives on the estate and works in the fields and sells the crops in the marketplace. The boy also takes care of the horse and is the groundskeeper of the estate (a bill-hook is a long handled saw or blade used for cutting brush).
Sentence number five: The man is almost 50-years old. He isn't sickly. He is thin (as one might imagine eating salads, lentils and an occasional pigeon). He gets up early in the morning. I would says he likes to hunt (great sportsman...keep in mind this was before football and big screen televisions).
Six: There seems to be some confusion about our characters name. It is either Quixada, Quesada or Quexana (I believe this is a 17th century version of the "you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay" phenomenon). And if I am correct, all of the names seem to be derivations of the Spanish word for cheese.
Sentence number seven (the last sentence in paragraph one): The author finally admits that the debate over the character's name has no bearing on the story and was a deliberate waste of time. I believe it is Cervantes way of saying, "But I digress."
Tomorrow we will tackle Paragraph Two. It is a bit longer than paragraph one and in it we will discover what the main character likes to read (I've peeked already).
WHICH TREATS OF THE CHARACTER AND PURSUITS OF THE FAMOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE OF LA MANCHA
In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing. An olla of rather more beef than mutton, a salad on most nights, scraps on Saturdays, lentils on Fridays, and a pigeon or so extra on Sundays, made away with three-quarters of his income. The rest of it went in a doublet of fine cloth and velvet breeches and shoes to match for holidays, while on week-days he made a brave figure in his best homespun. He had in his house a housekeeper past forty, a niece under twenty, and a lad for the field and market-place, who used to saddle the hack as well as handle the bill-hook. The age of this gentleman of ours was bordering on fifty; he was of a hardy habit, spare, gaunt-featured, a very early riser and a great sportsman. They will have it his surname was Quixada or Quesada (for here there is some difference of opinion among the authors who write on the subject), although from reasonable conjectures it seems plain that he was called Quexana. This, however, is of but little importance to our tale; it will be enough not to stray a hair's breadth from the truth in the telling of it.
TIM-ELVIS' OBSERVATIONS ON THIS PARAGRAPH:
This is a long paragraph. It has been translated from Spanish so we have that to contend with. And some of the syntax is awkward. The story is not being told by one of the characters. I think this is called third person narrative, but I may be mistaken. It has been quite a few years since I took advanced humanities.
Let's look at the first sentence: We can assume that the story is set somewhere in the village of La Mancha (it helps knowing in advance that the musical version of Don Quixote is called Man of La Mancha). We are introduced to the main character. He keeps a lance or spear in his house along with a shield (old buckler), a skinny horse (hack) and dog for hunting.
Okay, now the second sentence: The main character spends three quarters of his money on food. He eats stewed meats (olla) that is more often beef than mutton. He eats a salad almost ever night. He has leftovers on Saturdays. He eats lentils on Fridays so he is very likely a Catholic. The Sunday meal sometimes includes a pigeon.
Third sentence: The rest of his income is spent on clothing. He has one nice jacket made out of nice cloth and a pair of velvet pants (try not to read anything into this). He only wears these on holidays. Most days he wears clothing made out of homespun materials which rules out polyester.
Fourth sentence: The man has a housekeeper who is over 40-years old. His niece lives with him. She is under 20 years old. A young man also lives on the estate and works in the fields and sells the crops in the marketplace. The boy also takes care of the horse and is the groundskeeper of the estate (a bill-hook is a long handled saw or blade used for cutting brush).
Sentence number five: The man is almost 50-years old. He isn't sickly. He is thin (as one might imagine eating salads, lentils and an occasional pigeon). He gets up early in the morning. I would says he likes to hunt (great sportsman...keep in mind this was before football and big screen televisions).
Six: There seems to be some confusion about our characters name. It is either Quixada, Quesada or Quexana (I believe this is a 17th century version of the "you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay" phenomenon). And if I am correct, all of the names seem to be derivations of the Spanish word for cheese.
Sentence number seven (the last sentence in paragraph one): The author finally admits that the debate over the character's name has no bearing on the story and was a deliberate waste of time. I believe it is Cervantes way of saying, "But I digress."
Tomorrow we will tackle Paragraph Two. It is a bit longer than paragraph one and in it we will discover what the main character likes to read (I've peeked already).
2 Quixotics:
You know, of course, I was only kidding. But, I am quite impressed that you have undertaken a blogging monstrosity. I will tag along on this journey and check in daily. I need some culture.
I like that you will be giving us your interpretation of this bit of literature.
Shandi, I am so excited that you are joining me on this long and arduous journey. Let's think of it as a "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" at Disneyland. I'm estimating there are about 500 paragraphs in the first half of the book.
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