Fighting Windmills: Quixotism and Old/New Issues Facing Humankind

• Bezrukov ^[1] ; Bohovyk ^[2]
  1. [1] Andrii
  2. [2] Oksana
• Localización: Literatura: teoría, historia y crítica, ISSN 0123-5931, Vol. 26, Nº. 2, 2024, págs. 97-121
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.15446/lthc.v26n2.113675
• Títulos paralelos:
  • Luchando contra los molinos de viento: el quijotismo y los viejos/nuevos problemas que enfrenta la humanidad
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    La reinvención más reciente del Don Quijote (1605) de Miguel de Cervantes —Quichotte (2019) de Salman Rushdie— representa las identidades volátiles de la sociedad estadounidense en condiciones de difuminar la línea entre realidad y ficción. Explorar el quijotismo como el conflicto entre idealismo y realismo aclara la idea de los humanos que luchan contra molinos de viento en sus cabezas. En este contexto, se destacan preocupaciones constantes a lo largo de los siglos, considerando circunstancias históricas y socioculturales. El presente artículo se enfoca en dicha oposición binaria existente en las cosmovisiones de la gente de las épocas de Cervantes y de Rushdie. Ambas novelas comparten un reflejo simbólico del mundo, mediante la estética distintiva de una obra de ficción que trasciende la narración metaficcional. Un estudio comparativo de las historias diacrónicamente diferentes enfatiza la similitud entre las fuertes preguntas planteadas sobre las sociedades cuyos ideales reflejan los Quijotes.

  • English

    The most recent reimagining of Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote (1605) —Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte (2019)— represents the volatile identities in American society under the conditions of blurring a line between fact and fiction. Exploring quixotism as the conflict of idealism vs realism elucidates the idea of humans who fight with the windmills in their heads. Against the background of this conflict, topical concerns are vividly highlighted to remain constant throughout the centuries, considering specific historical and sociocultural circumstances. The impact of this binary opposition on the worldview of the people of that time and the modern ones, created by Cervantes and Rushdie correspondingly, is a primary focus of the article. Both novels share a symbolic reflection of the world through the distinct aesthetics of a work of fiction that moves them beyond metafictional narration. A comparative study of the diachronically different stories emphasises a similarity of the strong questions raised about the societies whose ideals quixotes reflect.

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