SOURCE: Church, Margaret. Introduction to Don Quixote: The Knight of La Mancha, pp. xiii-xxxvi. New York: New York University Press, 1971.

In the following essay, Church notes the thematic and structural connections between Don Quixote and other works of fiction, suggests a psychological basis of the novel's structure, and discusses the difference between the 1605 and 1615 portions of the work.

That Don Quixote, one of the most loved and widely read books ever written, should need to be “explained” suggests the paradox of all criticism. The critic interprets a book that has already been interpreted and understood by many, and yet, if the book has any worth at all, it will have been only partially understood or “misunderstood” in parts by any particular reader. The critic himself adds his own understandings and “misunderstandings,” for who is to say from what perspective a true judgment may be made (the lesson, incidentally...