44 "Don Quixote de la Mancha..." "An early novel written by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Cervantes created a fictional origin for the story based upon a manuscript by the invented Moorish historian, Cide Hamete Benengeli. The work was published in two volumes the first in 1605, and the second in 1614. The protagonist, Alonso Quixano, is a country gentleman who has read so many stories of chivalry that he descends into fantasy and becomes convinced he is a knight errant. Together with his earthy squire Sancho Panza, the self-styled "Don Quixote de la Mancha" sets out in search of adventure. The "lady" for whom Quixote seeks to toil is Dulcinea del Toboso, an imaginary object crafted from a neighboring farm girl (her real name is Al- donza Lorenzo) by the illusion-struck "knight" to be the object of his courtly love. "Dulci- nea" is totally unaware of Quixote's feelings for her, nor does she actually appear in the novel. Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears at or near the top of lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published and is the bestselling nonreligious, nonpolitical work of fiction of all time" -- Reference Wikipedia.org back to 44)
