This is a study of major figures, texts, and periods in Spanish literature prior to 1700. It applies - and interrogates - modern critical theory. Contributing to its cohesiveness are the time span addressed (1330-1630) and the emphasis throughout on literary tradition and critical approaches. It is inspired partly by Ramiro de Maeztu's 1926 monograph, Don Quixote, Don Juan y la Celestina, devoted to the three characters Maeztu felt to be the most important in the Spanish literary canon. include Celestina. The volume is divided into three parts. The first of these deals with Don Quixote, the second centers around the Don Juan figure created by Tirso de Molina, while the third ventures farther back in time to treat the major texts of the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, along with the problematic period concepts Renaissance and Baroque. James A. Parr is Professor of Spanish at the University of California, Riverside.

This second edition of Approaches to Teaching Cervantes'sDon Quixote highlights dramatic changes in pedagogy and scholarship in the last thirty years: today, critics and teachers acknowledge that subject position, cultural identity, and political motivations afford multiple perspectives on the novel, and they examine both literary and sociohistorical contextualization with fresh eyes. Part 1, "Materials," contains information about editions of Don Quixote, a history and review of the English translations, and a survey of critical studies and Internet resources. In part 2, "Approaches," essays cover such topics as the Moors of Spain in Cervantes's time; using film and fine art to teach his novel; and how to incorporate psychoanalytic theory, satire, science and technology, gender, role-playing, and other topics and techniques in a range of twenty-first-century classroom settings.

Arguably the most influential work to emerge from Spain's Golden Age, Don Quixote laid the groundwork for the Western literary canon and remains one of its major achievements.

In this volume, Ian Watt examines the myths of Faust, Don Quixote, Don Juan and Robinson Crusoe, as the distinctive products of modern society. He traces the way the original versions of Faust, Don Quixote and Don Juan - all written within a forty-year period during the Counter Reformation - presented unflattering portrayals of the three figures, while the Romantic period two centuries later recreated them as admirable and even heroic. The twentieth century retained their prestige as mythical figures, but with a new note of criticism. Robinson Crusoe came much later than the other three, but his fate can be seen as representative of the new religious, economic and social attitudes which succeeded the Counter-Reformation. The four figures help to reveal problems of individualism in the modern period: solitude, narcissism, and the claims of the self versus the claims of society. They all pursue their own view of what they should be, raising strong questions about their heroes' character and the societies whose ideals they reflect.

Recently voted the best literary work of all time, Cervantes' Don Quixote is widely read by students and has had enormous influence on popular culture. Written by a leading Cervantes scholar yet accessible to students and general readers, this book conveniently introduces Cervantes' masterpiece. Included along with a detailed plot summary are chapters on the novel's background, themes, style, and reception. The volume closes with an extensive bibliographical essay and a selected, general bibliography. In 2002, the Norwegian Book Club, affiliated with the Nobel Prize organization, polled 100 writers from around the world, asking each to name the 10 best works of imaginative literature of all time. Cervantes' Don Quixote, though first published in 1605, was the overwhelming winner. Don Quixote is a favorite among students and general readers alike. It has been translated into more languages than any book other than the bible; adapted to the stage more than any other non-dramatic text; illustrated more than any other novel; and inspired more films than any other literary work. Written by a leading scholar yet accessible to high school students, this guide is an indispensable introduction to the world's most important novel. An introductory chapter overviews Cervantes' life and career and discusses the background of his novel. The book then provides a detailed plot summary of Don Quixote and considers the merits of different editions. It then looks at the cultural and historical contexts surrounding the novel and gives extensive attention to the work's themes, style, and reception. A bibliographical essay and selected, general bibliography of major studies conclude the volume.

Don Juan is one of the most intriguing creations of Western literature, a perpetual source of fascination. In the popular imagination he exists as a legendary seducer of women, a trickster and transgressor of sacred boundaries. Crossing cultures from east to west, he has been the recipient of countless revisions, while the twentieth century has viewed the figure afresh through the prism of its own cultural terms of reference and social concerns. Using an interdisciplinary approach, Tales of Seduction focuses on the fascinating intersections between myth, culture and intellectual inquiry. Sarah Wright takes Don Juan back to Spain and examines the confluences of Spanish culture with aspects of Western intellectual history (such as medicine, psychoanalysis and linguistics), where she finds Don Juan continues to transgress the limits of culture until the present.