BOOK REVIEW CERVANTES AND ANATOMY OF LIBERTY IN “DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA”:

Abstract

The years immediately following the pandemic have brought us two works of great value dedicated to Cervantes. The first one we are going to discuss was the second to be published in 2022 by the scholar, jurist and man of letters Santiago Muñoz Machado, currently director of the Royal Spanish Academy. We are discussing this one first as it is the more extensive and has the broader scope of the two. Indeed, Muñoz Machado undertakes (at this stage!) the arduous task of presenting us with a new biography of Cervantes when one might practically consider that everything of importance in this field had already been said. However, Muñoz Machado rises to this challenge with flying colours, presenting us, with great mastery and a knack for synthesis, as it were, with a compendium on the ‘state of the art’ regarding Cervantes from today’s perspective. Thus, throughout the 626 pages that make up the main text, the reader can gain a very accurate understanding of the different schools of thought and of everything of significance that has been written about Cervantes and his work.