ABOUT THIS BOOK

The 400th anniversaries of Don Quixote in 2005 and 2015 sparked worldwide celebrations that brought to the fore its ongoing cultural and ideological relevance. Living Quixote examines contemporary appropriations of Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece in political and social justice movements in the Americas, particularly in Brazil.

In this book, Cervantes scholar Rogelio Miñana examines long-term, Quixote-inspired activist efforts at the ground level. Through what the author terms performative activism, Quixote-inspired theater companies and nongovernmental organizations deploy a model for rewriting and enacting new social roles for underprivileged youth. Unique in its transatlantic, cross-historical, and community-based approach, Living Quixote offers both a new reading of Don Quixote and an applied model for cultural activism—a model based, in ways reminiscent of Paulo Freire, on the transformative potential of performance, literature, and art.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Rogelio Miñana is professor of Spanish and head of the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages at Drexel University. He is the author of Monstruos que hablan: El discurso de la monstruosidad en Cervantes and La verosimilitud en el Siglo de Oro: Cervantes y la novela corta.

REVIEWS

"Living Quixote is an eloquent, necessary bridge between the ivory tower and the street. Miñana marries meticulous scholarship of Cervantes, a literary reading wide and deep, with compelling present-day stories lived by real people who are inspired by 400-year-old imaginings. He thereby makes an urgent, persuasive case for Don Quixote—and the humanities in general—as a wellspring to nourish action that can bring about a more just and accepting world."
—Stephen Haff, founder of Still Waters in a Storm and author of Kid Quixotes

— Stephen Haff

"Miñana's hemispheric study of 'applied quixotism' represents a groundbreaking addition to contemporary Cervantes scholarship. Living Quixote excavates a uniquely Brazilian reading of Alonso Quijano not as a misguided idealist, but as someone who deliberately performs 'Don Quixote' in order to write his own story, thus inspiring a whole generation of social justice activists across Brazil and beyond."
—Bruce R. Burningham, author of Tilting Cervantes and Radical Theatricality

— Bruce R. Burningham

"Rogelio Miñana offers an innovative and fascinating approach to the endlessly engaging Don Quixote. He demonstrates how Cervantes's masterpiece manifests—and reinvents—itself in times, places, and circumstances far removed from early modern Spain. His analysis of the motif of taking Don Quixote to the streets is a major achievement in the field of cultural studies."
—Edward Friedman, author of Cervantes in the Middle and Quixotic Haiku

— Edward Friedman

"In this fascinating and groundbreaking book Miñana veers away from the usual path taken by studies dealing with the impact of Don Quixote, and turns instead to the novel's tremendous repercussions in the vulnerable populations, in the at-risk children, in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Latin America. This eye-opening book presents a Quixote that embodies a genuinely American vision of social justice. Clearly written and forcefully presented, it is a must-read."
—Frederick A. de Armas, author of Don Quixote among the Saracens and Quixotic Frescoes

— Frederick A. de Armas

"Living Quixote is an eloquent, necessary bridge between the ivory tower and the street. Miñana marries meticulous scholarship of Cervantes, a literary reading wide and deep, with compelling present-day stories lived by real people who are inspired by 400-year-old imaginings. He thereby makes an urgent, persuasive case for Don Quixote—and the humanities in general—as a wellspring to nourish action that can bring about a more just and accepting world."
—Stephen Haff, founder of Still Waters in a Storm and author of Kid Quixotes

— Stephen Haff

"Miñana's hemispheric study of 'applied quixotism' represents a groundbreaking addition to contemporary Cervantes scholarship. Living Quixote excavates a uniquely Brazilian reading of Alonso Quijano not as a misguided idealist, but as someone who deliberately performs 'Don Quixote' in order to write his own story, thus inspiring a whole generation of social justice activists across Brazil and beyond."
—Bruce R. Burningham, author of Tilting Cervantes and Radical Theatricality

— Bruce R. Burningham

"Rogelio Miñana offers an innovative and fascinating approach to the endlessly engaging Don Quixote. He demonstrates how Cervantes's masterpiece manifests—and reinvents—itself in times, places, and circumstances far removed from early modern Spain. His analysis of the motif of taking Don Quixote to the streets is a major achievement in the field of cultural studies."
—Edward Friedman, author of Cervantes in the Middle and Quixotic Haiku

— Edward Friedman

"In this fascinating and groundbreaking book Miñana veers away from the usual path taken by studies dealing with the impact of Don Quixote, and turns instead to the novel's tremendous repercussions in the vulnerable populations, in the at-risk children, in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Latin America. This eye-opening book presents a Quixote that embodies a genuinely American vision of social justice. Clearly written and forcefully presented, it is a must-read."
—Frederick A. de Armas, author of Don Quixote among the Saracens and Quixotic Frescoes

— Frederick A. de Armas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Living Quixote in the Americas
Part I: Transatlantic Quixotes: Brazilian Transculturations of Don Quixote
1. “Transforming People through Art”: Transculturating Don Quixote in Brazil
2. American Quixotes: The Afterlife of Don Quixote in the Americas
Part II: Don Quixote of the Streets: The Performative Approach to Don Quixote in Brazil
3. Don Quixote of the Streets: Marginality and Metatheater in Brazilian Don Quixote Stage Adaptations
4. The Performative Approach: The Brazilian Third Way of Reading Don Quixote
Part III: Urban Quixotes: Performative Activism and Citizenship in Contemporary Brazil
5. “A Place of Hope”: Performing Citizenship in Contemporary Brazil
6. “Quixotinhos Urbanos”: Performative Activism and Urban Transformation in São Paulo
Conclusion: Don Quixote Lives On: Performative Activism in the Americas
Notes
Works Cited
Index