Four minutes of “Don Quixote”

I went to the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid last Saturday, as I have for many years, to participate in a continuous reading Quixote, and I got to read a passage that I really like. Actually, I like the whole book, but that chapter LXXII of the second part (“How Don Quixote and Sancho came to their village”) is a particularly great moment. Don Quixote returns from Barcelona after being defeated and humiliated by the Knight of the White Moon. At the threshold of his native village, in an inn by the road, he meets don Álvaro Tarfe. This is no less than one of the main characters of the film Quixote of Avellanedaa sequel written by another author without the permission of Cervantes to capitalize on the success of the first part Quixote. In this second part, Cervantes does not stop mocking it Quixote alternatively, he even makes sure that his hidalgo does or stops doing things (like not going to Zaragoza) just to contradict Avellaneda’s story. But here Cervantes goes further and steals a character from Avellaneda’s novel to put in his own.

The fact is that Don Quixote confronts him after hearing the name of Don Álvaro de Tarfe. Don Álvaro explains that he is going to his homeland, Granada. “And a good country!” exclaims Don Quixote. Although the exclaimer is actually Cervantes, who, unlike his character, was actually in Granada as a tax collector (Spain’s greatest writer was an employee of the tax agency, the government of Spain). Don Quixote demands that Don Álvaro recognize him as the real Quixote, and the “other”, who Don Álvaro left in the asylum in Toledo, as a fake. Don Álvaro is confused at first, but he is immediately convinced that the hidalgo must be right, because this Sancho really has more grace than the “other”, and this Quixote more dignity. The “second” Quixote who stayed in the Casa del Nuncio asylum in Toledo can therefore only be a madman who believes himself to be another madman. The one in front of him is undoubtedly “the good Quixote,” says Don Álvaro, and the other “the bad one.” To which the hidalgo replies in his usual Ortega style: «I don’t know if I’m good; but I can say that I am not a villain. Therefore, Don Quixote sends for a notary to have Don Álvaro declare before him and sign that everything is so. This means that Cervantes makes a fictional character in the book swear before a notary public that the second fictional character in the second book is more authentic than the third fictional character. And, although Cervantes doesn’t say so, when I read this chapter I always imagine poor Don Álvaro Tarfe a little restless as he signs, wondering if deep inside he’s keeping a record of his own non-existence.

It happens to be the last adventure of Don Quixote, who then closes the circle of his adventures by returning to his city. At this point, the hidalgo has already been defeated on the golden sands of Barceloneta beach and has lost his knight errant status; but at least he won this last battle, even if it was without a fight and through the involvement of a notary. And one would say that it is the most important struggle of all, because it is the struggle of one’s own existence. “If he comes defeated by another’s weapon,” says Sancho in the same chapter, “he conquers himself,” which is “the greatest victory that can be desired.” And while I was reading that sentence out loud and meditating on it, a voice brought me back to reality. “Thanks, next one!” And I left the platform for someone else to continue the story.