Eric C. Graf, Cervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Don QuijoteCervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Don Quijote. Eric C. Graf . Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2007. Pp. 222.

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Previous articleNext article FreeBook ReviewEric C. Graf, Cervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Don Quijote Cervantes and Modernity: Four Essays on Don Quijote. Eric C. Graf . Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 2007. Pp. 222.Frederick A. de ArmasFrederick A. de ArmasUniversity of Chicago Search for more articles by this author University of ChicagoPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreOver thirty years ago, Anthony Close attempted to make sense of all the divergent strands of criticism on Don Quijote by contrasting earlier readings of the novel with what he called the Romantic Approach, which, by idealizing the knight, distorts what the book is about (The Romantic Approach to “Don Quixote” [Cambridge University Press, 1977]). In so doing, he took a stand against much of Cervantine criticism. Although much has been written since, Eric C. Graf, in his provocative new book, asserts that Cervantes' novel “remains captive to a romantic interpretation, especially in the English speaking world” (22). Graf takes a strong stand against such readings, arguing that Cervantes “did not intend Don Quijote to be the model of anything more than an annoyingly aggressive and ethnocentric fool, a menace to society, who acts out his dangerous infatuation with the laughably antiquated aristocratic ideology of chivalric romance” (23). If this is the case, then how can we view the novel in terms of modernity?In order to formulate his own vision of Cervantes and modernity, Graf has thoroughly reworked four of his previous articles and presents them to us in a cohesive and thoughtful manner, preceded by an introduction that serves as a frame, and followed by a suggestive epilogue. In his book, Graf not only takes issue with the Romantic Approach, but also with the post-Marxist and postcolonial objections to the Enlightenment and its move toward modernity. He thus points to how Cervantes' novel impacted Voltaire, Feijóo, and Hobbes, authors he will take up in the four essays. These writers decry, among other topics, religious fanaticism, something that pervades Don Quijote. Indeed, Graf's four chapters deal with four “modern” elements of Cervantes' novel: ethnic tolerance, respect for women (modernity's feminism), social/religious harmony, and the importance of reason (modernity's secularism and materialism). Throughout his text, the story of the captive and Zoraida consistently comes to the fore in order to ponder many of these issues.Graf's first chapter, although seeking to show how Cervantes defends the Morisco population of southern Spain, also takes up the novel's representations of the tensions within the peninsula, most importantly the “Basque's nostalgia for personal and linguistic independence and a Castilian's nostalgia for Gothic imperial authority” (29). Graf makes a point of showing how the novel breaks off as Don Quijote and the Basque cross swords. Since the rest of the manuscript is missing, the next chapter begins by recounting the search for the missing text in Toledo. The recovered manuscript is in Arabic and must be translated. It is at this point that the Morisco translator laughs “at an Arabic joke about a Spanish identity crisis scribbled in the margin” (37). Through a clever (con)fusion of Arab, Morisco, and Basque, Graf unveils not only what he calls the dehumanizing imperialism of Don Quijote but also the ethnic anxieties that elicit laughter in the novel. This richly designed chapter also brings to the fore the tale of the captive. For Graf, this story exemplifies Cervantes' openness to different ethnic categories. While doing so, Graf also demands the use of reason and textual and historical underpinning. Thus, he rejects as “ideologues” those who, like Antonio Gala and William Childers, “use the novel to advocate Islam from a romantically anti-occidental point of view” (52). In a balanced observation in a very charged field of study, Graf asserts that “the novel is principally concerned with challenging Spaniards to rethink themselves…an attitude capable of cultivating those aspects of Islam that might contribute to humanist reason” (52–53).In chapter 2, Graf traces with insight and erudition the shift from epic to novel and the transformation of this new genre into a phenomenon heavily influenced by aristocratic female salon culture in Spain and France—Zayas, Scudéry, and Lafayette. Graf also adds a missing element: Apuleius's The Golden Ass, a classical/picaresque text that was most influential at the time and that also foregrounds the feminine through its Neoplatonic vision. Graf carefully summarizes numerous instances of imitation and foregrounds Apuleius's vision of the goddess (be it Isis or Diana), relating it to Don Quijote, where women are imaged as goddesses: Marcela/Diana, Dorotea/Venus, Camila/Danae. Rather than decrying the masculine idealization of the female in Cervantes, Graf shows how women are provided with a voice and can act to minimize oppression. Tying Cervantes' vision to the Enlightenment, the chapter argues, “Like Feijoo, Cervantes understood that the real epic battle for civilization is the one against the nature of men” (97). And, countering certain feminist and postcolonial arguments, this critic gives a balanced assessment of the feminine, showing that Cervantes seeks to “inculcate respect for women in men” (100). Zoraida/Mary/Isis becomes a site for the contemplation of women's role in society, of the role of tolerance among cultures, and of the role of the novel in pointing to new possibilities in social and political behavior.Turning to Christianity, chapter 3 returns to the point where the battle between Don Quijote and the Basque is left unfinished. It focuses on a specific image: with their swords aloft, they could split each other in half like pomegranates. Graf will thus contemplate the significance of the granada in the novel, delving into the religious and political iconography of this fruit. Moving with ease from the monastery of San Juan in Toledo to Botticelli's Madonna of the Pomegranate (ca. 1487), and from Lope de Vega's play Juan de Dios y Antón Martín (1608–11) to Salvador Dalí's Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate (1944), this critic demonstrates the complex geographical and moral meanings of this fruit in Cervantes' text. Establishing a dialogue with Theresa Sears on feminist perspectives and with George Mariscal on postcolonial arguments, Graf provides a different way of understanding Don Quijote. Through the pomegranate, Cervantes seeks to provide a Christian solution to ethnic violence. The image of this contentious fruit reveals how to heal a divided and bellicose kingdom. Incorporating a series of episodes, including that of the captive, Graf show how the pomegranate is presented as a gesture of tolerance at a moment when violence is about to erupt. This is a fascinating chapter, one that shows how Cervantes was intent on using architecture and the visual arts as a way to construct new meanings within his text.The last chapter turns to the episode of the corpse showing its indebtedness to a miracle by St. Martin, as described by Sulpicius Severus, a “miracle” that castigates peasants who do not practice pagan rites. The absurdity of Martin's miracle, Graf argues, reflects Cervantes' skepticism regarding miracles and religious authority. In a clever and convincing analysis, one that brings in the ghost of Hamlet and of Hobbes's Leviathan (1651), Graf shows to what degree Cervantes is able to question the ideology of the Counter-Reformation. While raising questions, Cervantes is not ready to embrace Hobbes's secular state. But the many hauntings of the novel decry the move away from Renaissance humanism to the power now held by “paranoid priests” (153). A suggestive epilogue serves as an ending.Cervantes and Modernity is a lucid and passionate approach to key issues in Cervantes' Don Quijote. Graf succeeds in capturing his readers through a series of insights into the interpolated tale of Zoraida and the captive within the novel; he also cleverly deciphers many of the memorable passages in the novel, from the polyvalent pomegranate to the hellish corpse. His four different takes on the novel's modernity seem to vie with one another. But Graf is conscious of this frisson, which is there to free the reader, granting her an active role in the pursuit of key issues, from feminism to ethnicity, from secularism to materialism. Fascinating conversations with other critics establish an important metacritical level. These dialogues turn, at times, into ardent disagreements, but his forthright correctives derive from a conviction based on reasoned arguments, learned insights, and a solid foundation in the culture of early modern Spain. This is a clearly argued, fascinating, and provocative study that will inspire Cervantistas to review the role of Don Quijote in the move toward modernity and to respond to Eric C. Graf's alluring perspectives. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Modern Philology Volume 108, Number 2November 2010 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/655669 Views: 429Total views on this site © 2010 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected] Crossref reports no articles citing this article.