Hee Hee! This works on so many levels.
[video=youtube;JmHRx3211OE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmHRx3211OE[/video]
[video=youtube;JmHRx3211OE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmHRx3211OE[/video]
Biker, Happy Joan of Arc Day!
- Thread starter Goatboy
- Start date
Biker! Not so Happy Sack Of Novgorod Day!
Biker, on this day in 1570 - Tsar Ivan the terrible kills 1000-2000 residents of Novgorod.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible , Ivan Grozny), was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and Tsar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately 4,046,856 km[SUP]2[/SUP] (1,562,500 sq mi).[SUP] [/SUP]Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias.
Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. In one such outburst he killed his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich. This left the Tsardom to be passed to Ivan's younger son, the weak and intellectually disabled Feodor Ivanovich. Ivan's legacy is complex: he was an able diplomat, a patron of arts and trade, founder of Russia's first Print Yard, a leader highly popular among the common people of Russia, but he is also remembered for his paranoia and arguably harsh treatment of the nobility.
Despite calamities triggered by the Great Fire of 1547, the early part of Ivan's reign was one of peaceful reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code, creating the Sudebnik of 1550, founded a standing army (the streltsy), established the Zemsky Sobor (the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type), the council of the nobles (known as the Chosen Council), and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the whole country. He introduced local self-government to rural regions, mainly in the northeast of Russia, populated by the state peasantry.
By Ivan's order in 1553 the Moscow Print Yard was established and the first printing press was introduced to Russia. The 1550s and 1560s saw the printing of several religious books in Russian. The new technology provoked discontent with traditional scribes, which led to the Print Yard being burned in an arson attack and the first Russian printers Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets being forced to flee from Moscow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Nevertheless, printing of books resumed from 1568 onwards, with Andronik Timofeevich Nevezha and his son Ivan now heading the Print Yard.
Ivan had St. Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of Kazan. Legend has it that he was so impressed with the structure that he had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded so that he could never design anything as beautiful again. In reality, Postnik Yakovlev went on to design more churches for Ivan and Kazan's Kremlin walls in the early 1560s, as well as the chapel over St. Basil's grave that was added to St. Basil's Cathedral in 1588, several years after Ivan's death. Although more than one architect was associated with this name and constructions, it is believed that the principal architect is one and the same person.
Other events of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the peasants, which would eventually lead to serfdom.
[h=3]Sack of Novgorod[/h]Main article: Massacre of Novgorod
Conditions under Oprichnina were worsened by the 1570 epidemics of plague that killed 10,000 people in Novgorod. In Moscow it killed 6001000 daily. During the grim conditions of the epidemics, famine and ongoing Livonian war, Ivan grew suspicious that noblemen of the wealthy city of Novgorod were planning to defect, placing the city itself into the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1570 Ivan ordered the Oprichniki to raid the city. The Oprichniki burned and pillaged Novgorod and the surrounding villages, and the city was never to regain its former prominence.
Casualty figures vary greatly in different sources. The First Pskov Chronicle estimates the number of victims at 60,000. Yet the official death toll named 1,500 of Novgorod's big people (nobility) and mentioned only about the same number of smaller people. Many modern researchers estimate the number of victims to range from 20003000 (after the famine and epidemics of 1560s the population of Novgorod most likely did not exceed 10,00020,000). Many survivors were deported elsewhere.
Oprichnina did not live long after the sack of Novgorod. During the 15711572 Russo-Crimean war, oprichniks failed to prove themselves worthy against a regular army. In 1572, Ivan abolished the Oprichnina and disbanded his oprichniks.
Biker, on this day in 1570 - Tsar Ivan the terrible kills 1000-2000 residents of Novgorod.
Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ива́н Васи́льевич; 25 August 1530 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible , Ivan Grozny), was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547 and Tsar of All the Russias from 1547 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately 4,046,856 km[SUP]2[/SUP] (1,562,500 sq mi).[SUP] [/SUP]Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias.
Historic sources present disparate accounts of Ivan's complex personality: he was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness. In one such outburst he killed his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich. This left the Tsardom to be passed to Ivan's younger son, the weak and intellectually disabled Feodor Ivanovich. Ivan's legacy is complex: he was an able diplomat, a patron of arts and trade, founder of Russia's first Print Yard, a leader highly popular among the common people of Russia, but he is also remembered for his paranoia and arguably harsh treatment of the nobility.
Despite calamities triggered by the Great Fire of 1547, the early part of Ivan's reign was one of peaceful reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code, creating the Sudebnik of 1550, founded a standing army (the streltsy), established the Zemsky Sobor (the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type), the council of the nobles (known as the Chosen Council), and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters, which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the whole country. He introduced local self-government to rural regions, mainly in the northeast of Russia, populated by the state peasantry.
By Ivan's order in 1553 the Moscow Print Yard was established and the first printing press was introduced to Russia. The 1550s and 1560s saw the printing of several religious books in Russian. The new technology provoked discontent with traditional scribes, which led to the Print Yard being burned in an arson attack and the first Russian printers Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets being forced to flee from Moscow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Nevertheless, printing of books resumed from 1568 onwards, with Andronik Timofeevich Nevezha and his son Ivan now heading the Print Yard.
Ivan had St. Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of Kazan. Legend has it that he was so impressed with the structure that he had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded so that he could never design anything as beautiful again. In reality, Postnik Yakovlev went on to design more churches for Ivan and Kazan's Kremlin walls in the early 1560s, as well as the chapel over St. Basil's grave that was added to St. Basil's Cathedral in 1588, several years after Ivan's death. Although more than one architect was associated with this name and constructions, it is believed that the principal architect is one and the same person.
Other events of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the peasants, which would eventually lead to serfdom.
[h=3]Sack of Novgorod[/h]Main article: Massacre of Novgorod
Conditions under Oprichnina were worsened by the 1570 epidemics of plague that killed 10,000 people in Novgorod. In Moscow it killed 6001000 daily. During the grim conditions of the epidemics, famine and ongoing Livonian war, Ivan grew suspicious that noblemen of the wealthy city of Novgorod were planning to defect, placing the city itself into the control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1570 Ivan ordered the Oprichniki to raid the city. The Oprichniki burned and pillaged Novgorod and the surrounding villages, and the city was never to regain its former prominence.
Casualty figures vary greatly in different sources. The First Pskov Chronicle estimates the number of victims at 60,000. Yet the official death toll named 1,500 of Novgorod's big people (nobility) and mentioned only about the same number of smaller people. Many modern researchers estimate the number of victims to range from 20003000 (after the famine and epidemics of 1560s the population of Novgorod most likely did not exceed 10,00020,000). Many survivors were deported elsewhere.
Oprichnina did not live long after the sack of Novgorod. During the 15711572 Russo-Crimean war, oprichniks failed to prove themselves worthy against a regular army. In 1572, Ivan abolished the Oprichnina and disbanded his oprichniks.
Apart for the dribbling from the gag, no damage.
Bob
I'm not saying anything but why did Bob have that gag so handy?! I think he's been "entertaining" again! That and the steel shutters on a 2nd story window, he's a naughty boy.
Very good!
- except... they should learn the rules of Rugby ... and redub the brit voices!
Welcome back Colin. Good piece about Ivan. You don't usually hear about all the good he did as well.
Biker! Happy Crapper Day!
Biker! On this day in 1863 - Thomas Crapper pioneers one-piece pedestal flushing toilet.
Thomas Crapper (baptised 28 September 1836; died 27 January 1910) was a plumber who founded Thomas Crapper & Co in London. Contrary to widespread misconceptions, Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. He did, however, do much to increase the popularity of the toilet, and developed some important related inventions, such as the ballcock. He was noted for the quality of his products and received several royal warrants.
Manhole covers with Crapper's company's name on them in Westminster Abbey are now one of London's minor tourist attractions. Thomas Crapper & Co owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom, in King's Road until 1966. The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough Road (now Draycott Avenue).
Crapper was born in Thorne, Yorkshire, in 1836; the exact date is unknown, but he was baptised on 28 September 1836. His father, Charles, was a sailor. In 1853 he was apprenticed to his brother George, who was a master plumber in Chelsea. After his apprenticeship and three years as a journeyman plumber, in 1861 Crapper set himself up as a sanitary engineer, with his own brass foundry and workshops in nearby Marlborough Road.
The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596. Joseph Bramah of Yorkshire patented the first practical water closet in England in 1778. George Jennings in 1852 also took out a patent for the flush-out toilet. In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely spoken of, Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom.
In the 1880s, Prince Edward (later Edward VII) purchased his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk and asked Thomas Crapper & Co. to supply the plumbing, including thirty lavatories with cedar wood seats and enclosures, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant. The firm received further warrants from Edward as king and from George V both as Prince of Wales and as king.
In 1904, Crapper retired, passing the firm to his nephew George and his business partner Robert Marr Wharam. Crapper lived at 12 Thornsett Road, Anerley, for the last six years of his life and died on 27 January 1910. He was buried in the nearby Elmers End Cemetery.
In 1966 the company was sold by then owner Robert G. Wharam (son of Robert Marr Wharam) on his retirement, to their rivals John Bolding & Sons. Bolding went into liquidation in 1969. The company fell out of use until it was acquired by Simon Kirby, a historian and collector of antique bathroom fittings, who relaunched the company in Stratford-upon-Avon, producing authentic reproductions of Crapper's original Victorian bathroom fittings.
Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating ballcock, but none was for the flush toilet itself.Thomas Crapper's advertisements implied the siphonic flush was his invention; one having the text "Crapper's Valveless Water Waste Preventer (Patent #4,990) One movable part only", but patent 4990 (for a minor improvement to the water waste preventer) was not his, but that of Albert Giblin in 1898. Crapper's nephew, George, did improve the siphon mechanism by which the water flow is started. A patent for this development was awarded in 1898.[SUP][
[/SUP]
It has often been claimed in popular culture that the slang term for human bodily waste, "crap", originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. The most common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".
The word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff). In English, it was used to refer to chaff, and also to weeds, or other rubbish. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.
Biker! On this day in 1863 - Thomas Crapper pioneers one-piece pedestal flushing toilet.
Thomas Crapper (baptised 28 September 1836; died 27 January 1910) was a plumber who founded Thomas Crapper & Co in London. Contrary to widespread misconceptions, Crapper did not invent the flush toilet. He did, however, do much to increase the popularity of the toilet, and developed some important related inventions, such as the ballcock. He was noted for the quality of his products and received several royal warrants.
Manhole covers with Crapper's company's name on them in Westminster Abbey are now one of London's minor tourist attractions. Thomas Crapper & Co owned the world's first bath, toilet and sink showroom, in King's Road until 1966. The firm's lavatorial equipment was manufactured at premises in nearby Marlborough Road (now Draycott Avenue).
Crapper was born in Thorne, Yorkshire, in 1836; the exact date is unknown, but he was baptised on 28 September 1836. His father, Charles, was a sailor. In 1853 he was apprenticed to his brother George, who was a master plumber in Chelsea. After his apprenticeship and three years as a journeyman plumber, in 1861 Crapper set himself up as a sanitary engineer, with his own brass foundry and workshops in nearby Marlborough Road.
The flushing toilet was invented by John Harrington in 1596. Joseph Bramah of Yorkshire patented the first practical water closet in England in 1778. George Jennings in 1852 also took out a patent for the flush-out toilet. In a time when bathroom fixtures were barely spoken of, Crapper heavily promoted sanitary plumbing and pioneered the concept of the bathroom fittings showroom.
In the 1880s, Prince Edward (later Edward VII) purchased his country seat of Sandringham House in Norfolk and asked Thomas Crapper & Co. to supply the plumbing, including thirty lavatories with cedar wood seats and enclosures, thus giving Crapper his first Royal Warrant. The firm received further warrants from Edward as king and from George V both as Prince of Wales and as king.
In 1904, Crapper retired, passing the firm to his nephew George and his business partner Robert Marr Wharam. Crapper lived at 12 Thornsett Road, Anerley, for the last six years of his life and died on 27 January 1910. He was buried in the nearby Elmers End Cemetery.
In 1966 the company was sold by then owner Robert G. Wharam (son of Robert Marr Wharam) on his retirement, to their rivals John Bolding & Sons. Bolding went into liquidation in 1969. The company fell out of use until it was acquired by Simon Kirby, a historian and collector of antique bathroom fittings, who relaunched the company in Stratford-upon-Avon, producing authentic reproductions of Crapper's original Victorian bathroom fittings.
Crapper held nine patents, three of them for water closet improvements such as the floating ballcock, but none was for the flush toilet itself.Thomas Crapper's advertisements implied the siphonic flush was his invention; one having the text "Crapper's Valveless Water Waste Preventer (Patent #4,990) One movable part only", but patent 4990 (for a minor improvement to the water waste preventer) was not his, but that of Albert Giblin in 1898. Crapper's nephew, George, did improve the siphon mechanism by which the water flow is started. A patent for this development was awarded in 1898.[SUP][
[/SUP]
It has often been claimed in popular culture that the slang term for human bodily waste, "crap", originated with Thomas Crapper because of his association with lavatories. The most common version of this story is that American servicemen stationed in England during World War I saw his name on cisterns and used it as army slang, i.e. "I'm going to the crapper".
The word crap is actually of Middle English origin; and predates its application to bodily waste. Its most likely etymological origin is a combination of two older words, the Dutch krappen: to pluck off, cut off, or separate; and the Old French crappe: siftings, waste or rejected matter (from the medieval Latin crappa, chaff). In English, it was used to refer to chaff, and also to weeds, or other rubbish. Its first application to bodily waste, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, appeared in 1846 under a reference to a crapping ken, or a privy, where ken means a house.
I didn't have a drop 'till a few days after! Honest guvnor! Twas a very sober time, the village band were supposed to be bringing in the New Year at the village War Memorial. But on my arrival at 11:30 I found out that as it was cold and wet the jessies had decided to play in the local club house - and were charging admission. Being a mean Scot I decided not to pay and just went home. You have a good time yourself?
Biker
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Hey Son, welcome back, though I've been a bit A.W.O.L. myself of late.I thought I'd enjoy some R&R whilst in the UK over the Christmas season, yet it seems like I'm as busy as ever since arriving.
On a personal note the crap day seems to be appropriate, my dog had to be put down today, he'd had a long illness. I haven't had him with me 24/7 for the past 18 months since separating from Alison yet I find myself blubbing like leaky tap even now. He had a great life and brought so much love and joy to both Alison and me. I'm gonna miss him.
Sleep well Oscar.
On a personal note the crap day seems to be appropriate, my dog had to be put down today, he'd had a long illness. I haven't had him with me 24/7 for the past 18 months since separating from Alison yet I find myself blubbing like leaky tap even now. He had a great life and brought so much love and joy to both Alison and me. I'm gonna miss him.
Sleep well Oscar.
For us WW2 plane fans. I'd never heard of this one before, the Dornier Do 335. I came upon this by chance.
[video=youtube;6axBDxgbqgE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6axBDxgbqgE[/video]
A strange looking beast, thankfully it never saw service.
[video=youtube;6axBDxgbqgE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6axBDxgbqgE[/video]
A strange looking beast, thankfully it never saw service.
Biker! Happy Don Quixote Day!
Biker! Today in 1605- First publication of Don Quixote.
Don Quixote fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha), is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, an hidalgo who reads so many chivalric novels that he decides to set out to revive chivalry, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthly wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote is met by the world as it is, initiating such themes as intertextuality, realism, metatheatre, and literary representation.
Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. It has had major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844) and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In a 2002 list, Don Quixote was cited as the "best literary work ever written".
Various people have varying interpretations on the underlying meaning of the work.
Professor Tariq Ali suggests that by reading the preface and many paragraphs throughout the book in the context of the time and situation after the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, it becomes clear that Cervantes was attacking the Catholic church, the Spanish Inquisition and the ruling Catholic Spanish nobility. Ali shows how Cervantes points to his Jewish ancestry and to the Jews' (and Muslims') plight in Spain and abroad following the expulsions and mass conversions.
In stark contrast Harold Bloom says that Don Quixote is the writing of radical nihilism and anarchy, preferring the glory of fantasy over the real world which includes imminent death, being "...the first modern novel"
Edith Grossman, who wrote and published a highly acclaimed English translation of the novel in 2003, says that the book is mostly meant to move people into emotion using a systematic change of course, on the verge of both tragedy and comedy at the same time.
Grossman has stated "The question is that Quixote has multiple interpretations... and how do I deal with that in my translation.I'm going to answer your question by avoiding it... so when I first started reading the Quixote I thought it was the most tragic book in the world, and I would read it and weep... As I grew older...my skin grew thicker... and so when I was working on the translation I was actually sitting at my computer and laughing out loud. This is done... as Cervantes did it... by never letting the reader rest. You are never certain that you truly got it. Because as soon as you think you understand something, Cervantes introduces something that contradicts your premise."
The novel's structure is in episodic form. It is written in the picaresco style of the late 16th century, and features reference other picaresque novels including Lazarillo de Tormes and The Golden bottom. The full title is indicative of the tale's object, as ingenioso (Spanish) means "quick with inventiveness" marking the transition of modern literature from Dramatic to thematic unity. The novel takes place over a long period of time, including many adventures all united by common themes of the nature of reality, reading, and dialogue in general.
Although farcical on the surface, the novel, especially in its second half, is more serious and philosophical about the theme of deception. Quixote has served as an important thematic source not only in literature but also in much of art and music, inspiring works by Pablo Picasso and Richard Strauss. The contrasts between the tall, thin, fancy-struck, and idealistic Quixote and the fat, squat, world-weary Panza is a motif echoed ever since the books publication, and Don Quixote's imaginings are the butt of outrageous and cruel practical jokes in the novel.
Even faithful and simple Sancho is unintentionally forced to deceive him at certain points. The novel is considered a satire of orthodoxy, veracity, and even nationalism. In going beyond mere storytelling to exploring the individualism of his characters, Cervantes helped move beyond the narrow literary conventions of the chivalric romance literature that he spoofed, which consists of straightforward retelling of a series of acts that redound to the knightly virtues of the hero.
From shepherds to tavern-owners and inn-keepers, the characterization in Don Quixote was groundbreaking. The character of Don Quixote became so well known in its time that the word quixotic was quickly adopted by many languages. Characters such as Sancho Panza and Don Quixote's steed, Rocinante, are emblems of Western literary culture. The phrase "tilting at windmills" to describe an act of attacking imaginary enemies derives from an iconic scene in the book.
It stands in a unique position between medieval chivalric romance and the modern novel. The former consist of disconnected stories featuring the same characters and settings with little exploration of the inner life of even the main character. The latter are usually focused on the psychological evolution of their characters. In Part I, Quixote imposes himself on his environment. By Part II, people know about him through "having read his adventures", and so, he needs to do less to maintain his image. By his deathbed, he has regained his sanity, and is once more "Alonso Quixano the Good".
When it was first published, Don Quixote was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution it was popular in part due to its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchantingnot comic at all. In the 19th century it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell "whose side Cervantes was on". Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's innate idealism and nobility are viewed by the world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. By the 20th century the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.
Biker! Today in 1605- First publication of Don Quixote.
Don Quixote fully titled The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (Spanish: El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha), is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. It follows the adventures of Alonso Quijano, an hidalgo who reads so many chivalric novels that he decides to set out to revive chivalry, under the name Don Quixote. He recruits a simple farmer, Sancho Panza, as his squire, who often employs a unique, earthly wit in dealing with Don Quixote's rhetorical orations on antiquated knighthood. Don Quixote is met by the world as it is, initiating such themes as intertextuality, realism, metatheatre, and literary representation.
Published in two volumes, in 1605 and 1615, Don Quixote is considered the most influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age and the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published. It has had major influence on the literary community, as evidenced by direct references in Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers (1844) and Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In a 2002 list, Don Quixote was cited as the "best literary work ever written".
Various people have varying interpretations on the underlying meaning of the work.
Professor Tariq Ali suggests that by reading the preface and many paragraphs throughout the book in the context of the time and situation after the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from Spain, it becomes clear that Cervantes was attacking the Catholic church, the Spanish Inquisition and the ruling Catholic Spanish nobility. Ali shows how Cervantes points to his Jewish ancestry and to the Jews' (and Muslims') plight in Spain and abroad following the expulsions and mass conversions.
In stark contrast Harold Bloom says that Don Quixote is the writing of radical nihilism and anarchy, preferring the glory of fantasy over the real world which includes imminent death, being "...the first modern novel"
Edith Grossman, who wrote and published a highly acclaimed English translation of the novel in 2003, says that the book is mostly meant to move people into emotion using a systematic change of course, on the verge of both tragedy and comedy at the same time.
Grossman has stated "The question is that Quixote has multiple interpretations... and how do I deal with that in my translation.I'm going to answer your question by avoiding it... so when I first started reading the Quixote I thought it was the most tragic book in the world, and I would read it and weep... As I grew older...my skin grew thicker... and so when I was working on the translation I was actually sitting at my computer and laughing out loud. This is done... as Cervantes did it... by never letting the reader rest. You are never certain that you truly got it. Because as soon as you think you understand something, Cervantes introduces something that contradicts your premise."
The novel's structure is in episodic form. It is written in the picaresco style of the late 16th century, and features reference other picaresque novels including Lazarillo de Tormes and The Golden bottom. The full title is indicative of the tale's object, as ingenioso (Spanish) means "quick with inventiveness" marking the transition of modern literature from Dramatic to thematic unity. The novel takes place over a long period of time, including many adventures all united by common themes of the nature of reality, reading, and dialogue in general.
Although farcical on the surface, the novel, especially in its second half, is more serious and philosophical about the theme of deception. Quixote has served as an important thematic source not only in literature but also in much of art and music, inspiring works by Pablo Picasso and Richard Strauss. The contrasts between the tall, thin, fancy-struck, and idealistic Quixote and the fat, squat, world-weary Panza is a motif echoed ever since the books publication, and Don Quixote's imaginings are the butt of outrageous and cruel practical jokes in the novel.
Even faithful and simple Sancho is unintentionally forced to deceive him at certain points. The novel is considered a satire of orthodoxy, veracity, and even nationalism. In going beyond mere storytelling to exploring the individualism of his characters, Cervantes helped move beyond the narrow literary conventions of the chivalric romance literature that he spoofed, which consists of straightforward retelling of a series of acts that redound to the knightly virtues of the hero.
From shepherds to tavern-owners and inn-keepers, the characterization in Don Quixote was groundbreaking. The character of Don Quixote became so well known in its time that the word quixotic was quickly adopted by many languages. Characters such as Sancho Panza and Don Quixote's steed, Rocinante, are emblems of Western literary culture. The phrase "tilting at windmills" to describe an act of attacking imaginary enemies derives from an iconic scene in the book.
It stands in a unique position between medieval chivalric romance and the modern novel. The former consist of disconnected stories featuring the same characters and settings with little exploration of the inner life of even the main character. The latter are usually focused on the psychological evolution of their characters. In Part I, Quixote imposes himself on his environment. By Part II, people know about him through "having read his adventures", and so, he needs to do less to maintain his image. By his deathbed, he has regained his sanity, and is once more "Alonso Quixano the Good".
When it was first published, Don Quixote was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution it was popular in part due to its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchantingnot comic at all. In the 19th century it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell "whose side Cervantes was on". Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote's innate idealism and nobility are viewed by the world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. By the 20th century the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.
Nice one Colin, knew of the plane but had never seen footage before. Odd looking but I like it. Just like all of us!
Shall I spoil it all by posting up this long (and best) forgotten "gem"?
[video=youtube;TZgSpB_zP28]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZgSpB_zP28[/video]