Il Chisciotte e i suoi lettori

Abstract

Don Quixote and Its Lectors.
The Don Quixote of la Mancha represents a literary work that never ceases to amaze and that offers material for reflection, continuously, influencing "the entire course of subsequent Western literature". An important source of inspiration, Don Quixote from La Mancha was able to feed both intellectual debate and popular culture. And this up to our days, in a plural way. The ability of this literary work to feed such a heterogeneity of streams leads to some considerations on reading, writing and on the status of classic to which a limited number of texts arrive. From a sociological perspective, this answer cannot be sought in the genius of the author or in some other similar characteristic, which would irremediably lead to focus on the individual. Rather, it must be sought in certain mechanisms of encounter and triggering of rearticulation processes, which have a relational, and therefore social, origin.