Three issues related to the impending end of the novel define this lecture. The first one is improvisation, as we see it in the confluence of actual geography with current historical events: the expulsion of the moriscos, and the Turkish and Huguenots menaces. With the story of Ricote, a kind of morisco novel in a nutshell, Cervantes provides a smorgasbord of narrative possibilities, and presents the consequences that political decisions have on common people. The second issue is the international dimension that the novel acquires with the episode of Roque Guinard and the entrance in Barcelona. The third issue is the influence that art or literature has on reality: the prank organized by the duke and duchess makes possible the marriage of dueña Rodríguez's daughter. Fiction, Cervantes seems to be suggesting, affects reality and improves it. Finally, Sancho's fall into the pit, a parody of the episode of his master in the cave of Montesinos, makes the squire an equal to Don Quixote as the novel progresses.

Reading assignment:
Elliott, Imperial Spain, 1469-1716, chapter 10

1. Introduction
2. Don Quixote, Part I: Front Matter and Chapters I-X
3. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters I-X (cont.)
4. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XI-XX
5. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XI-XX (cont.)
6. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XXI-XXVI
7. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XXI-XXVI (cont.)
8. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XXVII-XXXV
9. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XXVII-XXXV (cont.)
10. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XXXVI-LII
11. Don Quixote, Part I: Chapters XXXVI-LII (cont.)
12. Don Quixote, Introduction to Part II
13. Don Quixote, Part II: Front Matter and Chapters I-XI
14. Don Quixote, Part II: Front Matter and Chapters I-XI (cont.)
15. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XII-XXI
16. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XII-XXI (cont.)
17. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXII-XXXV
18. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXII-XXXV (cont.)
19. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXXVI-LIII
20. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters XXXVI-LIII (cont.)
21. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters LIV-LXX
22. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters LIV-LXX (cont.)
23. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters LXXI-LXXIV
24. Don Quixote, Part II: Chapters LXXI-LXXIV (cont.)

The course facilitates a close reading of Don Quixote in the artistic and historical context of renaissance and baroque Spain. Students are also expected to read four of Cervantes' Exemplary Stories, Cervantes' Don Quixote: A Casebook, and J.H. Elliott's Imperial Spain. Cervantes' work will be discussed in relation to paintings by Velázquez. The question of why Don Quixote is read today will be addressed throughout the course. Students are expected to know the book, the background readings and the materials covered in the lectures and class discussions.

Course Structure:
This Yale College course, taught on campus twice per week for 75 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Fall 2009.