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Don Quixote

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Don Quixote is probably the first recognizable Baroque figure in literature, appearing in 1605. He is the protagonist of what is widely recognized as the world's first (and some say still the best) modern novel, by Miguel de Cervantes.

From the point of view of Quicksilver and other fictional universes, Quixote is a useful figure for a number of reasons:

  • He illustrates the tension of the Baroque age - the learned elite working from a new paradigm of reason, and the power and people working from the old paradigms, and the tension being quite alienating

  • Another author wrote a book on Don Quixote after Cervantes' part I in 1605, but before his part 2 in 1615. In part 2, Cervantes makes references to the "Imposter" - as if a real person had impersonated the real Quixote in a real universe, instead of an author plagiarizing Cervantes' fiction. This opens up some interesting possibilities of a universe in which it is not clear if Quixote is real or not.

  • Quixote's lady, Dulcinea is a sort of projection in the novel, who becomes real only at the end when a peasant girl accepts the identity, but in the stage version Man of La Mancha she is real.

  • He is indelibly associated with windmills, which are increasingly important.

  • He's well out of copyright, making ripoffs quite legal.