Modern Languages and Literatures, Department of
Date of this Version
Fall 1998
Citation
Renaissance Quarterly 51:3 Autumn 1998), pp. 983-985.
Abstract
This monograph concerns Cervantes's Don Quijote, Part II published in 1615, sequel to the perhaps better known Don Quijote, Part I, which saw the light of day in 1605. Deviating from standard criticism, the author of the study insists upon this narrative as a novel in its own right, with its own special meaning (66,157). Making the assertion that to date no book length study has been devoted exclusively to the Quijote of 1615, Henry W. Sullivan characterizes this text "as a salvation epic," one which portrays "the passage of Knight and Squire through a Purgatory in this life" (xi). ... In these pages of the analysis, we confront a reconstruction of Cervantes's text through Freudian/Lacanian lenses more than a plausible interpretation thereof. Sullivan indicates that his overview of the novel is ultimately subsumed into a Lacanian perspective (157).