Don Quijote, Volume II

Cervantes

From reading the two volumes in college, I seemed to remember that I felt the second was better; more solid. Written about 10 years after the first volume, Cervantes obviously takes the criticism he received from the first volume into account in writing his second. To me this means less chapters where a wandering shepherd quijote and panza meet on the road tells an unrelated love or adventure story and more dialogue and adventures where DQ and PS take part. These last bits are what makes the novel funny and deep.

One brief observation on Volume Two regarding the age-old analysis of these novels and the give-and-take between reality and fantasy. Throughout the novels, the characters see DQ as crazy and so play games to make him think he is actually sane. In the last few chapters as DQ approaches death, he "becomes" sane. The surrounding characters try to convince him of the reality of fantastical claims/events/etc. This is very clever by the author because at this point he has made DQ sane and all the rest crazy.