At around a thousand pages, the greatest challenge of Miguel de Cervantes' book "Don Quixote" is its length. There's a reason why people always refer to Don Quixote's fights with windmills when they talk about this book. It's because this fight happens somewhere around page 50, and few people have the stamina to tackle the remaining 950 pages.
Which is a shame because the book is full of symbolism. The windmills, for instance, stand for stultified human institutions that need attacking, or ancient traditions that must be questioned, or totalitatrian governments requiring renewal by revolution, or bureaucracy being attacked by individual demands. The triumph was a triumph of daring, not necessarily of succeeding! Was this the reason why we read "Don Quixote", albeit an abridged version, at the "Volksschule" in Germany?
Of course, you can also listen to the audiobook - click here - for which I have found you the matching translation by John Ormsby so that you can read as you listen - click here. Twenty-one hours of listening and reading pleasure awaits you! You're in lockdown! Make the most of it!
