Don Quixote among the Saracens
Subtitle: a clash of civilizations and literary genres
By: Frederick A. de Armas
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Toronto; Buffalo
Language: eng
Number of pages: 237
ISBN-13: 9781442643451
Subjects: Saracens in literature; Technique; Culture conflict in literature
Description: "The fictional Don Quixote was constantly defeated in his knightly adventures. In writing Quixote's story, however, Miguel Cervantes succeeded in a different kind of quest - the creation of a modern novel that 'conquers' and assimilates countless literary genres. Don Quixote among the Saracens considers how Cervantes's work reflects the clash of civilizations and anxieties towards cultural pluralism that permeated Golden Age Spain.

Frederick A. de Armas unravels an essential mystery of one of world literature's best known figures: why Quixote sets out to revive knight errantry, and why he comes to feel at home only among the Moorish 'Saracens,' a people whom Quixote feared at the beginning of the novel. De Armas also reveals Quixote's inner conflicts as both a Christian who vows to battle the infidel, but also a secret Saracen sympathizer. While delving into genre theory, Don Quixote among the Saracens adds a new dimension to our understandings of Spain's multicultural history."--pub. desc.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [209]-227) and index.
Table of contents: title: I. Pillars of Genre/Ghosts of Empire: An Introduction; title: II. A Pythagorean Parody of Chivalry; title: III. Questioning Quaternities; title: IV. An Arab's Audacious Pastoral; title: V. Magics of the Defeated; title: VI. Clues to a Narrative; title: VII. Greek Interlace; title: Italian Interweaving; title: VIII. Palinurus and the Pleiades; title: IX. Don Quixote among the Saracens; title: X. Thymos and its Chariot