Reached half-way, the start of Volume 2. The archaic prose style, Cervantes translated by Smollett, and the Don’s already pompous delivery, means you have to work hard for its pleasures other than the sound of language itself. The theme of women as objects of admiration, and pretty well all motives, is very strong ? I must have missed the significance of why the goatherd at the end of Volume 1 is Anselmo – need to back track.
If I’m going to complete this I may have to switch to a more modern translation, to save reading time.
I understand completely your reference to reading for the language itself. That is the way I feel when I read Jane Austen. She was an artist and the language itself was her paintbrush and canvas.
I am a singer. When I sing a song, it becomes more than the words or the melody. It is the melding of all of the elements which make art. And when song is sung…it is sung and then it is gone…never to be again.
Sad, but very important. That is art. It stands alone.
It’s funny, when I bought it I deliberately chose the early translation by Smollett, because I liked the look, feel and sound of the words.
I was of course also primarily interested in the significance of Cervantes contained messages, for my own research.
If I read a modern translation, I have to trust that translator actually got Cervantes messages, not just his (or Smollett’s) language – A Catch-22, I really have to continue with the “original” to be sure I’m getting the intended messages, as well as the intrinsic / artistic value in the words. It’s my whole problem / thesis in microcosm in fact.
Having completed the first volume, I’m taking a break.