About the Book

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha or, in Spanish, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha.

Author and Themes

Written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote is a novel about a man and his 'squire' trying to prove that chivalry is not dead and aspiring to be heroes. There are themes of chivalry, romance, and sanity in this two-part novel.

Plot Summary

The plot revolves around the adventures of a member of the lowest nobility, an hidalgo ("Son of Something") from La Mancha named Alonso Quijano, who reads so many chivalric romances that he either loses or pretends to have lost his mind in order to become a knight-errant (caballero errante) to revive chivalry.