Miguel de Cervantes
Welcome to the Prologue to Don Quixote, the beginning of the 2019 Chapter-a-Day Read-along! In order to read exactly 365 chapters this year, I am counting the prologue to Part 1 as a chapter (and will do so again at the beginning of Part 2), so we won’t start the actual story until tomorrow, January 2.
Though the story hasn’t begun yet, you can already get a sense of Cervantes’ humor as he worries about how his book will be received and frets that it will not contain enough quotations or citations to impress the public.
Cervantes also includes some poetry in honor of the great knight Don Quixote. These fictitious poems are attributed to some of the most famous characters from the literature of chivalry: Amadis of Gaul, Don Belianís, Lady Oriana, Gandalín, etc. These are characters from the novels Don Quioxte loves to read. In other words, fictional heroes are writing poems in honor of Cervantes’ fictional hero. It would be as if William Goldman had begun The Princess Bride with poetry written by Aragorn, Legolas, or Boromir in honor of Wesley, Inigo Montoya, or Fezzik.
Tomorrow we meet Don Quixote himself, and with school starting soon I anticipate not being able to write too many posts about the book. But I’ll be posting a quote each day on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #quixotereadalong. I encourage you to do the same if you so desire.
To stay on track with the chapter-a-day schedule, be sure to download the Chapter a Day Reading Schedule. Here’s the schedule for the month of January:
| 1/1/2018 | Prologue to Part I |
| 1/2/2018 | Chapter 1 |
| 1/3/2018 | Chapter 2 |
| 1/4/2018 | Chapter 3 |
| 1/5/2018 | Chapter 4 |
| 1/6/2018 | Chapter 5 |
| 1/7/2018 | Chapter 6 |
| 1/8/2018 | Chapter 7 |
| 1/9/2018 | Chapter 8 |
| 1/10/2018 | Chapter 9 |
| 1/11/2018 | Chapter 10 |
| 1/12/2018 | Chapter 11 |
| 1/13/2018 | Chapter 12 |
| 1/14/2018 | Chapter 13 |
| 1/15/2018 | Chapter 14 |
| 1/16/2018 | Chapter 15 |
| 1/17/2018 | Chapter 16 |
| 1/18/2018 | Chapter 17 |
| 1/19/2018 | Chapter 18 |
| 1/20/2018 | Chapter 19 |
| 1/21/2018 | Chapter 20 |
| 1/22/2018 | Chapter 21 |
| 1/23/2018 | Chapter 22 |
| 1/24/2018 | Chapter 23 |
| 1/25/2018 | Chapter 24 |
| 1/26/2018 | Chapter 25 |
| 1/27/2018 | Chapter 26 |
| 1/28/2018 | Chapter 27 |
| 1/29/2018 | Chapter 28 |
| 1/30/2018 | Chapter 29 |
| 1/31/2018 | Chapter 30 |
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I have jumped and the reading took me to chapter 3, yet I might read the author’s prologue again.
I find, from the prologue, I like Cervantes’ sense of humour. The poems have whetted my curiosity further, and I am eager to begin reading about the man from La Mancha today! I had wanted to begin chapter 1 yesterday, but I told myself, I’m doing this a chapter a day. Let’s see how long I last… heh.
I am neither on Twitter nor on Facebook, but I guess I’ll be posting my updates in the comments of whatever your latest post on Don Quixote is, and on my blog.
All the best with your new school year!
Thanks for helping me past the first hurdle Nick 🙂
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/01/musings-of-idle-reader.html
Hi Nick, nice to meet you. I am having a DQ read along too, and we have some who are reading along with both of us. I am so excited to do this too, and happy for so many interested in this beloved classic. I enjoyed the example you gave comparing it to The Princess Bride. Cervantes is so close to us, readers, I love his invitation to talk about his book.
Thank you for introducing yourself, Silvia! It’s so great that these read-alongs are happening at the same time. I won’t be able to write much about Don Quixote due to a busy schedule, so I will eagerly look forward to your blog posts.
Pingback: Invitation to Read Don Quixote, post #2, Prologue – Silvia Cachia