Cervantes and Ariosto: Renewing Fiction

Thomas Hart examines Erich Auerbach’s contention that Don Quixote is not a tragedy but a comedy and suggests that Auerbach’s view was shaped by his reading of Ariosto’s chivalric romance Orlando furioso. At the same time Hart argues that neither Don Quixote nor Orlando furioso is so free from political intention as Auerbach believed they were. He demonstrates that Cervantes shared not only Ariosto’s attachment to the moral code of chivalry but also his doubts that it could be practiced effectively in the contemporary world.

Originally published in 1989.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.