The title of the novel is the French spelling of “Quixote” and is a reference to Jules Massenet’s 1910 opera, Don Quichotte. Rushdie in Quichotte, his 14 th novel, delivers a modern take on the old classic. He recruits Sancho Panza, a simple farmer, as his square and declares a neighbourhood farm girl as his lady love. Intended as a satirical parody of the popular taste in literature during his time, the plot of the original by Cervantes revolves around the (mis)adventures of one Alonso Quixano who loses his mind after reading too many chivalric romances and decides to become a knight himself. In an interview from 2018, Rushdie talks about re-reading the novel and how to him “the idea of a man determinedly seeing the world according to his own vision, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, feels strikingly contemporary”. Don Quixote easily received fifty per cent more votes than any other book, highlighting its endurance. In 2002, BBC asked a panel of 100 “leading authors”, Salman Rushdie among them, to list the 10 works of fiction they considered the “best and most central works in world literature”. A founding work of Western literature, it is often labelled “the first modern novel”. Published in two parts, 16, Don Quixote remains the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. The whole thing has come apart at the seams.” Everything’s slip-sliding around and there’s nothing to hold on to. Here can be there, then can be now, up can be down, truth can be lies.
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