Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote and John Barth’s The Sot-Weed Factor: A Deconstructive Reading

Abstract

Miguel de Cervantes’s Don Quixote is one of the earliest and most influential novels in the history of Western literature. John Barth’s The Sot-Weed Factor, published almost three centuries later, can be considered as one of the most seminal postmodern novels ever written in the English language. The goal of this paper is to examine Cervantes’s influence on John Barth in particular and in American postmodernism from a more general point of view. For the Spanish genius’ footsteps on American postmodernism, a deconstructive reading will be employed. Consequently, concepts such as deconstruction of binary opposites, the role of the subaltern or how the distinction between history and story are paramount to both Cervantes and Barth will be used.

Keywords

• john barth
• postmodernism
• deconstruction
• don quixote
• the sot-weed factor