The Apocryphal Part One of Don Quijote

Time and again, especially in the first part of Don Quijote, characters concern themselves with the art of telling a good story.2 The protagonist cannot restrain himself from editing the malapropisms out of Pedro the Goatherd's partial biography of Marcela, although he appreciates both its substance and the 'muy buena gracia' with which it is narrated (I, xii, 113). The Curate Pero Perez enjoys the manner of telling the tale of the Curioso impertinente, but finds the plot too farfetched (I, xxxv, 371). While the Captive apologizes for the prolixity of his own account, form and content are roundly applauded by the listeners (I, xlii, 433); a similar exchange occurs as Eugenio finishes the story of Leandra (I, li-lii). The most explicitlyand often-cited case of a worthless literary genre, and the target of general opprobrium among the sane, at least, is the romance of chivalry. Scholars understand that where Cervantes himself stood on many literary issues is not always, however, altogether obvious. At various junctures in the 1605 Quijote, for example, interrupting a story is held costly (by Sancho Panza, by Cardenio, by Lotario), yet Cervantes' entire narrative is a series of interruptions at the least opportune moments-the most blatant and consequential taking place at the end of I, Viii.3 The chivalric

Art · Literature · Early Modern Spanish Literature · Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez · Spanish Literature and Culture Studies