
Audio only
Length37h 18m
About this audiobook
The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Modern Spanish:
El ingenioso hidalgo (in Part 2,
cavallero)
Don Quijote de la Mancha), or just
Don Quixote, is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615,
Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. A founding work of Western literature, it is often labeled
the first modern novel and is sometimes considered the best literary work ever written.
The plot revolves around the adventures of a noble (hidalgo) from La Mancha named Alonso Quixano, who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his mind and decides to become a knight-errant (
caballero andante) to revive chivalry and serve his nation, under the name
Don Quixote de la Mancha. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthy wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical monologues on knighthood, already considered old-fashioned at the time. Don Quixote, in the first part of the book, does not see the world for what it is and prefers to imagine that he is living out a knightly story.
The book had a major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas'
The Three Musketeers (1844), Mark Twain's
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Edmond Rostand's
Cyrano de Bergerac (1897), as well as the word
quixotic and the epithet
Lothario; the latter refers to a character in
El curioso impertinente (
The Impertinently Curious Man), an intercalated story that appears in Part One, chapters 33–35. The 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer cited
Don Quixote as one of the four greatest novels ever written, along with
Tristram Shandy,
La Nouvelle Héloïse, and
Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre.
When first published,
Don Quixote was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution, it was better known for its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting. In the 19th century, it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell
whose side Cervantes was on. Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's idealism and nobility are viewed by the post-chivalric world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. By the 20th century, the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics
Length37 hrs 18 mins
Narrated byZacharias Prewett
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateFeb 1, 2020
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Opening Credits
26Volume 1, Chapter 22
2Commendatory Verses
27Volume 1, Chapter 23
3Volume 1, Author's Preface
28Volume 1, Chapter 24
4Volume 1, Dedication
29Volume 1, Chapter 25
5Volume 1, Chapter 1
30Volume 1, Chapter 26
Show all chaptersShow less
6Volume 1, Chapter 2
31Volume 1, Chapter 27
7Volume 1, Chapter 3
32Volume 1, Chapter 28
8Volume 1, Chapter 4
33Volume 1, Chapter 29
9Volume 1, Chapter 5
34Volume 1, Chapter 30
10Volume 1, Chapter 6
35Volume 1, Chapter 31
11Volume 1, Chapter 7
36Volume 1, Chapter 32
12Volume 1, Chapter 8
37Volume 1, Chapter 33
13Volume 1, Chapter 9
38Volume 1, Chapter 34
14Volume 1, Chapter 10
39Volume 1, Chapter 35
15Volume 1, Chapter 11
40Volume 1, Chapter 36
16Volume 1, Chapter 12
41Volume 1, Chapter 37
17Volume 1, Chapter 13
42Volume 1, Chapter 38
18Volume 1, Chapter 14
43Volume 1, Chapter 39
19Volume 1, Chapter 15
44Volume 1, Chapter 40
20Volume 1, Chapter 16
45Volume 1, Chapter 41
21Volume 1, Chapter 17
46Volume 1, Chapter 42
22Volume 1, Chapter 18
47Volume 1, Chapter 43
23Volume 1, Chapter 19
48Volume 1, Chapter 44
24Volume 1, Chapter 20
49Volume 1, Chapter 45
25Volume 1, Chapter 21
50Volume 1, Chapter 46