Gendanken's Banning

Oh, Don Quixote. In short: Don Quixote was a nobleman, who went almost bankrupt because of his love of books -- he bought many, many. He believed what the books, mostly mediaeval epics on chivalry, were all true, and that this noble knowledge is to be kept safe, and what is more: actively pursued. So he made himself on the way of chivalry. Of course, he had to have a lady, as those old books said a knight should do noble deeds in her name (for a little something on this look up my post on the Minne discourse in Gendanken's "Why the lover whispers sweet nothings", it's on the last, or second to the last page). Quixote never even saw this lady before, it was all heresay to him (and she was just some broad, known for her beauty). Anyway, so he went on his way of righteousness, pathetically getting it all wrong. He thought people would respect honesty, nobility, chivalry, generosity (and all this he was, very very literally!) -- but they didn't care about these noble pursuits. In the end, he realized that all his love for books and the old ideals was in vain, and that the world doesn't care about those noble pursuits at all.

The story is most jocose, yet profoundly tragic. It is an exceptionally critical view on society and its ideals. Written in 1617, the work is amazingly modern, well-applicable to present life.

 

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