"El curioso impertinente" and Don Quijote's symbolic struggle against "curiositas"

Abstract

The interpolated story of El curioso impertinente has been the crux interpretum of the Quijote ever since its original publication. Evidently Cervantes himself was aware of this fact, for whereas in his discussion of the inserted tales in Part II he praises their aesthetic value, he nonetheless omits them in the sequel, admitting that in doing so he is yielding to the adverse opinions of his reading public. He knew that the average reader simply ignored these episodios sueltos in order to follow the main plot of the novel. As for the educated reader we note the opinion of the bachiller, who finds El curioso impertinente quite out of place, though he is willing to admit that in spite of its irrelevance it possesses an aesthetic artificio of its own, ‘el cual se mostrara bien al descubierto, cuando por si solas, sin arrimarse a las locuras de Don Quijote, ni a las sandeces de Sancho, [las novelas] salieran a luz.’ To Cervantes these opinions seemed surprisingly critical of his intention, for he meant to inc...