The Utopian Nexus in Don Quixote

Peter N. Dunn, Myriam Yvonne Jehenson

Description

Jehenson and Dunn explore the mythic utopian desires that drive Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in Don Quixote. By tracing the discourses surrounding what they identify as a myth of abundance and a myth of "simple wants" throughout Spain and the rest of Europe at the time, Jehenson and Dunn are able to contextualize some of the stranger incidents in Don Quixote, including Camacho's wedding. They bring to the forefront three aspects of the novel: the cultural and juridical background of Don Quixote's utopian program for reviving the original property-less condition of the Age of Gold; the importance for Sancho Panza of the myths of Cockaigne and Jauja; and the author's progressive skepticism about utopian programs.

Sujets

• Literary Criticism
• Literature
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• European

Informations

• Publié par: Vanderbilt University Press
• Date de parution: 10 juillet 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780826592095
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

The UtopianNexus in DonQuixote

Myriam Yvonne Jehenson and Peter N. Dunn

The Utopian Nexus inDon Quixote

The Utopian Nexus inDon Quixote

Myriam Yvonne Jehenson & Peter N. Dunn

Vanderbilt University Press Nashville

© 2006 Vanderbilt University Press All rigts reserved First Edition 2006

10 09 08 07 06

1 2 3 4 5

Printed on acid-free paper. Manufactured in te United States of America

Publication of tis book as been supported by a generous subsidy from te Program for Cultural Cooperation between Spain’s Ministry of Culture and United States Universities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jeenson, Myriam Yvonne. he utopian nexus in Don Quixote / Myriam Yvonne Jeenson and Peter N. Dunn.—1st ed. p. cm. Includes bibliograpical references and index. ISBN 0-8265-1517-7 (clot : alk. paper) ISBN 0-8265-1518-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de, 1547–1616. Don Quixote. 2. Utopias in literature. I. Dunn, Peter N. II. Title. PQ6353.J45 2006 863’.6—dc22 2005023119

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Acknowledgments

Preface

Contents

Discursive Hybridity: Don Quixote’s and Sanco Panza’s Utopias

2 Utopia as Cultural Construct

3 Parallel Worlds: Myt into History and Performance

4 he Pan European Land of Cockaigne

5 Sanco Panza and te Material World

6 Discursive Formations in Sixteent-Century Spain

7 he ius naturaleand “he Indian Question”

8 Sanco Panza’s Utopia

9 Don Quixote’s Utopia

Works Cited and Consulted

Index

vii

ix

1

21

39

49

77

89

113

131

147

167

185

Acknowledgments

n te course of te years tat it as taken us to write tis book, many I  friends and colleagues ave asked us to explain wat we were doing. As we strove to present our project in brief terms, tey enabled us to clarify our ideas, to note lacunae, and to sarpen our arguments. We are grateful to tem, toug tey may be unaware of ow tey elped and encouraged us. Various temes and sections of our project ave been presented to academic audiences, including te Modern Language Association of America and Oxford, Hartford, and Vanderbilt universi- ties, and we ave benefited from te discussions tat ensued on tose occasions.  We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Hertford College, Oxford, for a Visiting Fellowsip; to te University of Hartford, Connecticut, for facilitating te fellowsip and to te Rockefeller Foundation for a resi- dency at te Villa Serbelloni Researc Center in Bellagio, Italy, were we presented our preliminary draft.  Our researc as been greatly assisted by te eagerness and dedica- tion of te staffs of te libraries were we ave worked: te Bodleian and te Taylorian Libraries in Oxford; te Hispanic Society of America in New York; and te library of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, wose interlibrary loan staff came to our rescue more tan once.  Our tanks go to Antony Close of Cambridge University for is detailed critical comments on an early draft. As a result, we present a more nuanced argument. In te same vein, we are particularly grate- ful to te two anonymous readers of Vanderbilt University Press for teir extensive comments, one of wom raised important questions of

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organization for our consideration. And we acknowledge te continued support and friendly encouragement of Edward Friedman, Donna Ran- dall, and Marcia Welles.  We ave enjoyed an especially cooperative relationsip wit te Vanderbilt University Press, in particular wit Betsy Pillips and Dariel Mayer. Special tanks go to te copyeditor David Ramsey for is me- ticulous combing of te text.  Finally, we would be remiss if we failed to mention Kaitlin Wals, a graduate student at te University of Hartford, wo as ceerfully andled all of our tecnical difficulties in word processing on different macines wit er usual intelligence, alacrity, and skill.

Note on the Cited Texts

All citations in Spanis from Cervantes’sDon Quixote, unless oterwise noted, are taken from Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,El ingenioso i- dalgo Don Quijote de la Manca,in te edition byFrancisco Rico and Joaquín Foradellas, 2 vols. Barcelona: Crítica, 1998. he Englis trans- lations, unless oterwise noted, are taken fromMiguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote, translated by Edit Grossman, New York: Harper Collins, 2003. Citations fromDon Quixoteare noted by part, capter, and page. For example, Part II, capter 51, page 795 would be cited: II:51, 795. Page references are to te Englis version first, followed by te Span- is. In most cases, te quotation in Spanis, in brackets, follows te Englis. Wen only one page reference is given, we refer to te Englis translation. Translations from oter works are our own unless stated oterwise.

Preface

e idea for tis book came about after many readings ofDon T Quixote, in te course of wic we were always fascinated and in- trigued by one particular episode: Camaco’s wedding in Part II, cap- ter 20. he source of our fascination was not te course of events tat take place tere, but rater te lavis material circumstances and te truly gargantuan scale of Camaco’s wedding feast. Out of proportion wit te everyday details tat appear in te rest of te novel, it also goes far beyond any verisimilar representation. his book is te result of our asking about te significance of te sudden and temporary cange of scale.  We were also intrigued by te fact tat te wedding is te one occa- sion in wic Sanco Panza finds is creaturely desires satisfied to te full, an anticipation of te style of living in wic e would like to be installed on is promisedínsula.Our curiosity turned to serious investi- gative inquiry as we placed Sanco’s evident deligt in, and subsequent nostalgia for, tis landscape of abundance in counterpoise to Don Quixote’s evocation of an age of virtuous frugality. So we condensed into two opposing and complementary traditional myts te two pro- tagonists’ desire for satiety: for Sanco te myt of abundance, for Don Quixote one of simple wants. Bot desires neverteless are based on mytic worlds were satisfaction is guaranteed. For Don Quixote it is te illusion of a world of limited appetites, of sober satisfactions, and of nostalgia for a pre-social golden age of communitarian freedom from rule. For Sanco it is a world of easy money and leisure. heir desires evoke, respectively, Arcadia and Cockaigne.  Eac of tese myts as a istory wic we ave attempted to trace;

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