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An introductory note: in this and all other general topics, please don't post spoilers that refer to passages later than the point in our reading we have reached (which will change from week to week, so if you have a comment that refers to, say, Part 2 Chapter 1, please hold it until Week 6.)

One question that seems to generate considerable discussion is the narrator question.

In general: who is the narrator of the book? When the book says "I," who is I??

It starts in the prologue, where he says the book was "born out of my own brain." That sounds pretty straightforward.

Then the friend comes in and, among the advice he gives is that "I," whoever he is, can write any sonnets and epigrams and elegies and give them any name you like. Hmmmm ... suddenly the author is not one person but at least potentially many people.

Now, the Raffel edition I've been reading goes straight from the Prologue into Part 1 Chapter 1, without any intervening material. But both the Putnam edition (in the Great Books series) and the Grossman edition have a section of what Putnam calls "Prefatory Poems" and Grossman calls "To the Book of Don Quixote of La Mancha," which are purportedly written by various figures. Are we to presume that Cervantes wrote these and, following the advice of his friend, just assigned random authors to them, taking on a number of personas? (And do we suspect that the friend is Cervantes himself, writing under yet another persona?)

In part 1 Chapter 1, we learn that "I don't want to bother you with [the name of the village:]. Back to pretty straightforward: the author speaking in his own person to the reader.

But then -- oops -- we get to the end of Chapter 8 and find that it wasn't Cervantes who wrote the material up to that point, but was an unnamed "original author," and that someone (Cervantes?) is the "second author") [Raffel translation:], who also refers to himself as "I." So in these first 8 chapters we have two (at least) different people referring to themselves as "I." The second author intends to narrate the remainder of the story, starting in chapter 9.

But oops, now we find that while this second author starts Chapter 9 in apparently his own words, we quickly find that he has found notebooks by a Sidi Hamid (or Hamete), which he can't read, but gets a translator to translate. Which is yet two more personas presumably for Cervantes.

What is going on here? Why does Cervantes do this? What is his point and object? What meaning or intent are we to take from all these personas running around writing or translating various bits of the book? And (no spoilers, please, I ask only to await any possible answer when we might get to it) is this the end, or are there more authors (or personas) who will show up further along in the book?

What are your thoughts???

I will have thoughts after I make more progress reading. The last few weeks have been hectic and I have fallen behind. I intended to make up the reading today but my phone has been on auto pilot ringing constantly!
Eman, I would like to thank you for the splendid job you have done organizing this endeavor.

thewanderingjew wrote: "Eman, I would like to thank you for the splendid job you have done organizing this endeavor."

Thanks [blush:], but it's really a group effort. Without all the wonderful participants and great discussion, it would be meaningless.

Patrice wrote: "I've found this extremely confusing and have no answers, but a few ideas.

l. the idea that the book was found and translated, etc. lends a certain historical veracity. This book, Cervantes is tel..."

I wonder if the idea that the book is found and translated, joined with the quotation that follows, (although it refers to poetry not books of fiction), doesn't also reinforce the comedic aspect of the book. So often the behavior of the characters seems to mock others and ideas are presented in the same tongue and cheek way. You see DQ do the opposite of what a sane person would do, in most situations. Perhaps one idea is presented while the opposite is really meant in this situation, as well.
Did Cervantes want to reinforce DQ's insanity or his humor onto the reader by presenting both sides to the reader, forcing him to choose between the sane or inane interpretation of behavior and remark? Is this question too naive?
I think the presentation of the tale which goes like a pendulum from sane to inane makes the insanity of the character and his bizarre behavior more apparent and acceptable. In the same way, there are also contradictions in the presentation of ideas.
I am new at this, or rather old at this since I haven't done this kind of analysis for a long time. I don't even know if my perception makes sense.

In the Grossman translation, p. 48 of paperback, in the "burning book" segment, the priest says, "and here we would pardon the captain if he had not brought it to Spain and translated it into Castilian, for he took away a good deal of its original value, which is what all who attempt to translate books of poetry into another language will do as well; no matter the care they use and the skill they show, they will never achieve the quality the verses had in their first birth.