Don Quixote and the Baroque

 

Four Key Concepts of Baroque Literature, Art, Music  –

·       grand scale

·       self-reflexive

·       the borderline between order and disorder

·       multiple organization

 

1.    Grand Scale: A very long novel embracing both realism and idealism

a.    Realistic pictures + Quixote’s idealizing vision

                                                 i.      Windmills: giants (I.8)

                                               ii.      A real inn populated with real whores, real mules, plain food: castle with damsels, steeds, salmon (I.2)

                                            iii.      The whipping of Andrés (I.4)

                                            iv.      Measures up to the grand scale of the Spanish kingdom

b.    “Knightly” ideals are embraced by all

                                                 i.      By Quixote

·       Adventurousness, valor, striving for fame

·       Protect the weak, stop injustice (frees the galley slaves in I.22)

·       (Fidelity to a lord: not so much)

                                               ii.      By the “level-headed” characters (even if with tongue in cheek)

·       Sancho Panza and his wife get in the spirit

·       The lion keeper in II.17, p. 1614

·       Cervantes himself, actual hero of “Tale of the Captive”

c.     Grand scale characteristic of Baroque art

                                                 i.      The Belvedere, St. Peter’s colonnade

                                               ii.      Canvases also much bigger than in Renaissance

2.    Self-reflexive art

a.    Compare other art of the period

                                                 i.      Las Meninas

                                               ii.      self-portraiture

                                           iii.      Hamlet: plays within the play, continual talk about acting

b.    Examples

                                                 i.      Break in novel between I.8 and I.9: Cide Hamete Benengeli

                                               ii.      Continual references to books and literature

·       I.1: Popular romances make Quixote mad

·       Scene in I.7 (cut from the anthology) where curate and barber burn most of Quixote’s books (but not all)

·       In II.3 Q & Sansón Carrasco have a literary discussion about the book Don Quixote – teases readers with “Stultorum infinitum numerus!”

·       Embedded stories: “The Tale of the Captive,” “The Tale of Misguided Curiosity”

·       Grisóstomo and Marcela: parody of love poetry

·       Don Diego in II.16: son wants to waste time studying literature, Q says wise things, p. 1608 (just before episode of lions)

·       In part II Quixote visits a printing press in Seville

·       Wants his niece to marry someone who never read such books

c.     Effect: Invites us to reassess the way we read

                                                 i.      Good not to lose focus on the ideal

                                               ii.      Reading as sharing fun, vs. the new, more private reading experience after Gutenberg and Reformation

                                            iii.      Reading with love and zest – and writing likewise

3.    Art on the borderline between madness and sanity, order and disorder

a.    Again compare other 17th century art

                                                 i.      Hamlet

                                               ii.      Las Meninas

                                            iii.      Carracci, Two Children Teasing a Cat

b.    “Sees” in the way of madmen: windmills etc.

c.     Yet makes his way in the world, and many love & appreciate him

4.    Multiple Organization

a.    Major characters develop independently of each other: Quixote, Sancho, Sansón Carrasco

b.    Minor characters all have their own past and future

                                                 i.      Gines de Pasamonte recounts his story, I.22

                                               ii.      Dulcinea is a real person, hasn’t the least idea that she is somebody’s beloved

c.     Huge variety of people with programs of their own – e.g. the penitents on p. 1574 (I.52)

d.    Again comparable to other art of the 17th century

                                                 i.      Hamlet: many different subplots, dozens of scenes (vs. classical pattern with only 5 episodes and only 1 plot)

                                               ii.      Las Meninas: many perspectives, many stories

                                            iii.      Also Velazquez’ Christ in the House of Martha and Mary and The Spinners

                                            iv.      Opera: lit + music + art