Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote has shaped the literary landscape in a myriad of ways, inspiring extensive discussion of the novel's enduring significance. In these conversations, the term quixotic has become a descriptor broadly applied to novels, characters, or concepts that echo Cervantes's masterpiece and his iconic protagonist. Yet, this expansive use has inadvertently diluted the term's richness and specificity. In The Transnational Hero, Dr. Gyulamiryan embarks on an exploration of Don Quixote's intertextual influence, analyzing the relations between parody, imitation, adaptation, and what is quixotic. The author also considers the influence of the novel across literary history by revitalizing the concept of re-accentuation, as theorized by Mikhail Bakhtin.
Through the lens of re-accentuation, this book offers a fresh perspective on how we interpret the essence of Don Quixote by focusing on the quintessential characteristics of the Spanish knight errant: the reader, the dreamer, the adventurer, and the lover. In examining over a dozen novels, Gyulamiryan illuminates how re-accentuated Quixotes convey new layers of meaning within their respective contexts, ultimately enriching our understanding of Cervantes's lasting legacy.
