memento mori
A surprising juxtaposition of the seventeenth century with classical times.
"Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind."
#Cervantes, Don Quixote.
— Bibliophilia (@Libroantiguo) January 16, 2016Book One of Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes was published on this date in 1605. It’s considered to be the first modern novel. It’s about a middle-aged landowner from a village in La Mancha who stays awake at night reading books about chivalry, forgets to eat and sleep, insanely believes the tales to be true, and sets off on a skinny nag in a heroic quest to resurrect old-fashioned chivalry and heroism in the modern world.