Cervantes and the Development of the Novel

FAIN: FB-10556-70

Ruth El Saffar
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Chicago, IL 60612-4305)

Analysis of Don Quixote to deduce principles of characterization and structure which can then be used analyze Cervantes' minor works. ABSTRACT: Fellow to analyze in Don Quixote charactersitics through which Cervantes' minor works preceding Quixote can be studied. Cervantes shows a clear preoccupation with the relationship between lying, insanity and artistic creation; characters adopt self-invented roles in preference to the acceptance of roles externally imposed. Fellow to analyze episodes in Quixote to show how all Cervantes' characters reflect a division into elements of object, subject and observer; distinctions between characters, and between characters, author and reader, tend to blur. Fellow will then apply general principles deduced from Quixote to Cervantes' minor works.