Ever since people discovered that they would not fall when they came to the end of the world, the infinity of the faraway lands and seas became much smaller while the infinity of the lands and the seas inside of the human soul became wider. The novel is the first genre that dealt with the different dimensions of the human soul and its characteristics.
The birth of the novel is usually associated with the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the middle class which paved the way for women to have more free time in the house to read. In the preface of his novel, Cervantes talks about this idle reader, the reader who has the time to read for fun. Although the novel is associated with the middle class, the middle class do not want to read themselves and Terry Eagleton explains this irony in his book The English Novel as ‘’The common people do not wish to see their own faces in the mirror of art. They have quite enough ordinary life in their working hours without wanting to contemplate it in their leisure time as well (5)’’. Thus, the foolish adventures of Don Quixote give the middle class the escape they need. For example, on page 477 of Don Quixote admitted that he is now a book character who tears away the common people from their daily life struggles so he should be more careful while jumping into adventures.
According to the theory of intertextuality, every work of literature includes intertextual quality in terms of carrying the literature legacy in their contexts one way or another. It means that the reader should know about knightly romances and how they are constructed to understand the parody made in Don Quixote. The most famous story within Don Quixote is that when he confuses a windmill with a monster. We know that the windmills are not monsters but then what were the monsters? Don Quixote is the last representative of the last generation who believed in monsters and magic. If it were not for that generation who believed in witchcraft, then we would not have the novel of adventures of The Don Quixote of La Mancha.
Even though it has inspirations, the novel has distinct features that make it a separate genre from romances. First of all, the novel is a form that could include both verse and prose. It is a hybrid child of all the imaginative literature that came before. Secondly, it creates a dialogue with the past and tradition through parody and satire, not by exact quotation. Moreover, the characters’ consciousness or inner psychology are never considered by their narrators in the romance; the reader does not see a protagonist who makes up his mind, however, in the novels the characters and their worlds have distinct qualities. For example, Don Quixote creates himself starting with his name. He has characteristics that only can be found in him, like to believe in something enthusiastically and to pursue something even though others find it foolish became a personal trait that has been accepted as Quixotic yet the characters in the romances are mostly molded stereotypes.
Don Quixote is not a knight who fights with a dragon and gets the beautiful girl; on the contrary, his wrong perception makes the reader realize that kinds of stories are past due. The conflicts in the novels are different from the romances in terms of putting man versus himself/ his inner world. Ian Watt explains this feature of the novel in his book Myths of Modern Individualism as ‘’The contradictions and mysteries and riddles that are resolved in romance remain largely unresolved in Don Quixote; they remain unresolved because they deal in a new way (62)’’, a new way that which points out everything is blurry and gray contrasted with the world of romances where everything is divided into good or bad, real or unreal, human or inhumane. Modern novels starting with Don Quixote do not include poetic justice of the romances. Lastly, novels are different in terms of having the ability to be self-reflective. Don Quixote reflects on the nature of literature and writing many times in the book and prophets metafiction.
In conclusion, the romances and the novels are separable considering the distinct features that they have. In the ending of Don Quixote, the narrator points out that nothing about human life is immortal thus Don Quixote’s death was not inevitable. Even its ending is the biggest difference contrary to romances; no one will live happily ever after.
The birth of the novel is usually associated with the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the middle class which paved the way for women to have more free time in the house to read. In the preface of his novel, Cervantes talks about this idle reader, the reader who has the time to read for fun. Although the novel is associated with the middle class, the middle class do not want to read themselves and Terry Eagleton explains this irony in his book The English Novel as ‘’The common people do not wish to see their own faces in the mirror of art. They have quite enough ordinary life in their working hours without wanting to contemplate it in their leisure time as well (5)’’. Thus, the foolish adventures of Don Quixote give the middle class the escape they need. For example, on page 477 of Don Quixote admitted that he is now a book character who tears away the common people from their daily life struggles so he should be more careful while jumping into adventures.
According to the theory of intertextuality, every work of literature includes intertextual quality in terms of carrying the literature legacy in their contexts one way or another. It means that the reader should know about knightly romances and how they are constructed to understand the parody made in Don Quixote. The most famous story within Don Quixote is that when he confuses a windmill with a monster. We know that the windmills are not monsters but then what were the monsters? Don Quixote is the last representative of the last generation who believed in monsters and magic. If it were not for that generation who believed in witchcraft, then we would not have the novel of adventures of The Don Quixote of La Mancha.
Even though it has inspirations, the novel has distinct features that make it a separate genre from romances. First of all, the novel is a form that could include both verse and prose. It is a hybrid child of all the imaginative literature that came before. Secondly, it creates a dialogue with the past and tradition through parody and satire, not by exact quotation. Moreover, the characters’ consciousness or inner psychology are never considered by their narrators in the romance; the reader does not see a protagonist who makes up his mind, however, in the novels the characters and their worlds have distinct qualities. For example, Don Quixote creates himself starting with his name. He has characteristics that only can be found in him, like to believe in something enthusiastically and to pursue something even though others find it foolish became a personal trait that has been accepted as Quixotic yet the characters in the romances are mostly molded stereotypes.
In conclusion, the romances and the novels are separable considering the distinct features that they have. In the ending of Don Quixote, the narrator points out that nothing about human life is immortal thus Don Quixote’s death was not inevitable. Even its ending is the biggest difference contrary to romances; no one will live happily ever after.
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