Don Quixote from La Mancha.

1. DON QUIXOTE
FROM LA
MANCHA

2. TITLE PAGE OF THE
FIRST EDITION OF DON
QUIXOTE, 1605

3. In 2002 the Norwegian Book Club and
the Nobel Foundation organised a survey
of the best work of fiction ever…
A selection of 100 writers from 54
countries chose Don Quixote as the
winner; in the second place Gustave
Flaubert’s Madame Bovary (who came
runner-up).
Each of the 100 writers, (several who
have won a Nobel Prize), had to mention
10 book titles to help create a Library of
Universal Literature. Cervantes won
Flaubert by 50% more votes.
THE BEST LITERARY WORKS OF ALL TIME
PICASSO: DON QUIXOTE

4. Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don
Quixote, died on the 23rd of April, 1616.
On that very same day of the same year,
William Shakespeare also died.
The UNESCO declared the 23rd of April
as the WORLD BOOK DAY by request of
the Spanish government since their
national book day had been celebrated
on that day for many years. On that day,
almost every Spaniard buys a book for
their loved one. In some regions of
Spain, such as Catalonia, the book is
accompanied with a rose.
WORLD BOOK DAY
CERVANTES by FRANCISCO DE GOYA

5. In 1612, the first translation of Don
Quixote into a foreign language
appears 4 years before the death of
Cervantes and 7 years after the
original edition (1605). The person
responsible for that translation, titled
The History of the Valorous and
Wittie Knight-Errant, Don Quixote of
the Mancha, was an Englishman
named Thomas Shelton.
THE FIRST TRANSLATION WAS INTO ENGLISH
THE COVER OF THE FIRST ENGLISH
EDITION OF DON QUIJOTE

6. THE MOST TRANSLATED BOOK AFTER THE BIBLE

7. IT HAS BEEN THE INSPIRATION FOR ARTISTS WORLDWIDE:
LITERATURE, FILMS, MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS, PLAYS,
BALLETS, PAINTINGS ...

8. AND MANY OTHER THINGS...

9. ALL OVER THE WORLD…

10. quijote2. m. A steadfastly man in
defence of causes that he considers just,
without achieving his purpose .
Royal Spanish Language Academy
DICTIONARY
IT HAS GIVEN A UNIQUE PERSONALITY TO THE SPANISH
WITH ITS VERY OWN WORD
DON QUIXOTE by DALÍ

11. 1615-2015

12. PLOT
Alonso Quijano (Don
Quixote) goes crazy
from reading too many
books of chivalry. This
madness makes him try
to imitate the
adventures which he
has read: he leaves his
hometown, he embarks
in a series of
adventures and he
returns defeated.

13. FIRST PART(1605)
FIRST JOURNEY Don Quixote
prepares his old, rusty weapons
which belonged to his great-
grandfathers. He puts them on
and sets out through La Mancha
with the hope of doing justice,
just as it happened in the
stories he read. He arrives at an
inn which he believes is a
castle, he is knighted in a
ridiculous ceremony, he seeks
adventures and returns home
wounded.

14. The SECOND JOURNEY (also in
the first book) makes up the rest
of the book. Don Quixote escapes
from his house again, but this time
he is accompanied by a humble
neighbour who acts as his squire.
The appearance of Sancho Panza
enriches the possibilities of the
novel since Sancho Panza is going
to be Quixote’s confident, opening
the doors to a dialogue which will
be of great importance. Besides,
they are two opposite characters
well matched. On this journey, we
can read about a lot of different
adventures and how Don Quixote
was tricked into going home.

15. SECOND PART (1615)
It covers the third and last journey.
New adventures on the way to
Barcelona. Most of them take place
in the court of some Dukes that
have read the first part of the book,
they know of Don Quixote and for a
bit of entertainment they pretend
that they live in a chivalrous court.
At the end of the second part,
another character from Don
Quixote’s village, dressed also as a
knight-errant, challenges Don
Quixote and wins. This forces Don
Quixote to go back home. There, he
regains his sanity and dies.

16. MEANING
Don Quixote is the model of the
ideal aesthetic and ethical life. He
becomes a knight-errant so that he
can defend justice in the world and
from the beginning he wants to be a
literary character. In short, he wants
to do good and live the life as if it
were a work of art.
Don Quixote is a synthesis of life
and literature, a life that has been
lived and a life that has been
dreamed. A fabulous integration of
reality and fantasy. An extraordinary
example of the difficulties of writing
about complex human relationships.

17. CURIOSITIES
A copy of Don Quixote in 1605, cost
around 290 maravedies (the currency
at that time), which was about 4
euros today.
Recently Sotheby’s in New York,
auctioned a copy of the first edition
from 1605 and was sold for
$6,000,000.
Don Quixote had immediate success:
a couple of weeks after the first
publication, three false copies
appeared in Lisbon.

18. OUR SCHOOL PROJECT
• To commemorate the fourth Century of the First
Edition of the novel in the year 2005 a
manuscript copy was made with
the participation of pupils,
teachers, families,and
many other persons,
even the President of the
Autonomous Comunity.

19. Our school project
• At the same time
our school was in
contact with artists
from all around the
world.
• They donate their
works for this
fantastic and
permanent exhibition
on Don Quixote.
• Here we can find works
from many countries and all five continents.
Marseille. France

20. SCHOOL EXHIBITION

21. Exhibition. Gallery 1
Lugo. Spain
Catalonia. Spain

22. Exhibition. Gallery 2
Mexico
Russia

23. Exhibition. Gallery 3
FranceVenezuela

24. Exhibition. Gallery 4
Italy
Brasil

25. Exhibition. Gallery 5
RomaniaMorocco

26. • FACSIMILE EDITION. 1605
• ENGLISH VERSION
• ESTONIAN VERSION (CHAPTER 1)
• POLISH VERSION (CHAPTER 1)
• TURKISH VERSION (CHAPTER 1)
THE NOVEL IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

27. Credits
• For this presentation it has been used some
materials by Nilda Blanco (University of La
Havana) and Agustín Yagüe (Ministry of
Education in Wellington, New Zealand).
Translated into English by Luis M. Miñarro.
• Pictures from the Permanent Exhibition on Don
Quixote in ‘Gerardo Martínez’ P. S.
Socuéllamos, Spain.
By Luis M. Miñarro
lmminarro@gmail.com