The second part of the history of the valorous and witty knight-errant, Don Quixote of the Mançha (Biblioteca Nacional de España) [26](p.2)

“Written in imitation of the manner of Cervantes” is how Henry Fielding highlights the strong dependence of his novel Joseph Andrews on the style of fiction devised by Cervantes. It was in England where admiration for Cervantes’s manner of writing prevailed over the overwhelming appeal of the character of Don Quixote, who triumphed in the rest of Europe. It was England that hailed Cervantes as a masterly writer.
Don Quixote is the most widely translated literary work: into 146 languages since 1612 to the present day. English was the first foreign language in which Don Quixote’s adventures could be read: in Thomas Shelton’s translation published in London in 1612. If we are to believe what is stated in the prologue, the translation was made in 1606 or 1607, and the translator took 40 days “Being thereunto more than halfe enforced, through the importunity of a very dear friend, that was desirous to understand the subject”.

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