Don Quijote, un cruce de caminos entre la oralidad y la escritura /

by Botello, Jesu?s.

DON QUIJOTE, UN CRUCE DE CAMINOS: ENTRE LA ORALIDAD Y LA ESCRITURA by Jesús Botello This study examines the interrelations between orality and literacy in several passages of Don Quixote. First, it proposes that Sancho Panza’s wise judgments at Barataria are an example of the supremacy of orality over literacy in this novel, and a Cervantes’s disapproval of the judiciary system of his time. Second, it points out how Sancho’s incessant proverbs are a result of the peculiar psychodynamycs of orality. Fourth, it rereads Don Quixote’s parody heroic character as a product of the transition from an oral world to a “textual” one. Finally, it examines several features of the Prólogo, emphasizing how Cervantes used oral techniques to write the piece. As a conclusion, this study shows how Don Quixote, in spite of being a work thought for the printing press, owes much of its peculiarities to oral techniques, which make it unique. It is, after all, a literary work halfway between orality and literacy.