Chapter 13 "Don Quixote"

In the last chapter, I recommended British works, which are the spiritual wealth inherited by English readers.In this chapter, I will recommend works written in other languages, but due to language restrictions, I only recommend books that can be appreciated through translation.This makes my job a lot easier, because I can put the poetry aside.Poetry, if you can't read the original text, it's better not to read it.I am not a poet, and I appreciate poetry from a different perspective.For me, rhyme and rhythm are an integral part of poetry appreciation, and no skilled translation can reproduce the original poetry.Language is tied to experience, our languages ​​are ingrained in our mother's milk, childhood memories and first loves, so the only thing we can fully appreciate is poetry written in our mother tongue.

So here, I will only talk about prose and novels.The first book I would recommend is Don Quixote.There was Sheldon's translation as early as the seventeenth century, but you should find it difficult to read.I hope you will enjoy reading it, and therefore recommend Ormsby's translation, published in 1885.But I want to remind you of one thing: Cervantes was a poor man, and he wrote a lot of works, including short stories, in order to make money.He included these short stories together in the book.I've read them, but like Dr. Johnson read them, it's more of a duty than a pleasure.So if I were you, I'd rather skip it than read it.Furthermore, Ormsby's edition uses a smaller typeface to accommodate these short stories.In short, all you want is Don Quixote and his faithful servant Sancho Panza.Don Quixote is a gentle, loyal and brave man.Although his misadventures are laughable (much less today than in the past, because we are more sensitive than Don Quixote's contemporaries), the jokes that happened to him were too cruel to be Makes for a good laugh), but unless you're insensitive, you'll love and adore this sad-faced knight.

Never before has the human imagination created a character so deeply sympathetic by his generosity.