Tu & Th 12:40 – 2:00, 3 cr., Wells Hall A124

Join Don Quixote, Sancho Panza and a host of other vivid characters on a wild ride that will take you from a forgettable town in the heartland of 17th-century Spain right up to us here the present, passing through almost every other imaginable place on the way.

The object of study of this course is twofold. First, of course, we will examine selections from Miguel de Cervantes’ literary masterpiece, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha, also known as Don Quixote (1605, 1615). The second focus will be on the peculiar power this novel has had to inspire filmmakers to keep creating adaptations or versions of the 400-year-old book right up to the present day. We will see how the wealth of laughs, sorrows, insights and memorable characters in the original work have maintained their relevance and been taken up, internalized and presented anew by artists and thinkers of our day. While we explore this material together, we will enrich our reading by discussing some of the themes the book raises: reality vs. appearance, the role of imagination in life, the meaning of friendship, love, inspiration, social justice, the status of women, art, culture and more. We will also have a look at the different purposes, media and approaches that inform adapters as they develop their versions of the story of the Knight of La Mancha.