Miguel de Cervantes makes considerable use of verbal playfulness and especially punning in Don Quixote. There is ample use of inversion, irony and contradiction. That the novel is situated in the world of ordinary people, from inn-keepers to tavern-owners to shepherds, was completely ground breaking and innovative. All of the characters in the novel soon become emblems of Western literary culture such as Sancho Panza and Don Quixote’s steed Rocinante. The phrase which has now entered everyday parlance, “tilting at windmills”, used to describe an act of attacking imaginary enemies, derives from a scene in Don Quixote.
The widespread influence of Don Quixote has helped cement the modern Spanish language. A classic Spanish cliché, “de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme”, which translates as “whose name I do not wish to recall”, is the opening sentence of the book. The novel occupies a unique position between the modern novel and the medieval chivalric romance. The former is usually focused on the psychological evolution of their characters and the latter does this little. Whilst not about gu10 led, the novel is still well worth a read.
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