Madness and Modernity in Cervantes' Don Quixote

In 2002, a panel of writers from over 50 countries named Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote the "most meaningful book of all time." Along with Dante's Commedia and Shakespeare's Hamlet, it was chosen by the same panel as one of the three greatest works of the Western canon. Such praise from one's peers is no small achievement for an author who spent more time in prison than in school, and it speaks to the lasting impact of a 400-year-old work aimed as much at confounding as delighting its readers. In this course, students will engage in a close reading and discussion of this "modern classic," examining both its many "meanings" and the ways in which it works to elude meaning altogether.