French Literature Reviews - 2026
The Representation of the Other in Cervantes's Don Quixote
Comparative and World Literature
Philippe MEUNIER (ed.)
La représentation de l'autre dans le Don Quichotte de Cervantès
Presses Universitaires de SAINT-ETIENNE
2007
Series: Cahiers du GRIAS / CELEC
Isbn: 2-86272-437-8
Ean 13 : 9782862724379
112 pages
22€
Publisher's overview:
Built on a series of successive encounters, Don Quixote constantly puts the concepts of identity and alterity to the test. Confrontation with the Other is either an experience of radical estrangement or, conversely, a way to awaken self-awareness through the gaze of another. The book examines alterity along three main modalities or analytical axes:
1/ Alterity as Don Quixote's madness, rooted in the toponym that serves as his chivalric title: "Mancha", which etymologically denotes a differentiated space.
2/ Alterity as Don Quixote's relationship with others: from the "matrix" formed by his encounter with the Toledo merchants (Part I) to his meeting with another *caballero* named Roque Guinart.
3/ Alterity epitomized by the characters of the secondary narratives: the female other and the pairs of friends (Cardenio-Fernando / Anselmo-Lotario).
Within Hispanic and comparative literary studies, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's foundational novel remains a central text for exploring early modern conceptions of selfhood, social difference, and cultural encounter. Such scholarly inquiries participate in longstanding critical conversations concerning Renaissance humanism, the emergence of modern subjectivity, and the structural complexities of prose fiction in seventeenth-century Spain.
The volume edited by Philippe Meunier examines alterity along three main modalities or analytical axes: alterity as Don Quixote's madness, rooted in the toponym that serves as his chivalric title, Mancha; alterity as Don Quixote's relationship with others, from the matrix formed by his encounter with the Toledo merchants to his meeting with another caballero named Roque Guinart; and alterity epitomized by the characters of the secondary narratives, including the female other and pairs of friends. Readers interested in early modern literature and the thematic analysis of identity in Cervantes may find it relevant.