111
Cervantes' chapter-caption to chapter 20, «De la jamás vista ni oída
aventura...»
(I, 178), although
containing a comical intent of its own (Rodriguez-Pérez Espinosa, 39),
clearly suggests that the senses of sight and hearing were foremost in his
creative effort in the chapters under study. (N. from the A.)
112
In a study of Sancho's joke-tale from a Freudian perspective
(chapter 20), Professor Shipley has noted the central role of the squire in the
context here studied: «Chapter 20 of
Don Quijote, part I, is Sancho Panza's
chapter. In it Sancho is mentioned fifty-three times, his master but
thirty-nine. The point of the chapter is discovered by attending to Sancho, to
what he says and does, and to the narrator's way of treating him»
(135). (N. from the A.)
113
In the discussion of the two protagonists upon hearing the
fulling hammers (the squire trying to dissuade Don Quijote from action by
indicating, with a shepherd's method of nocturnal time-telling, that dawn is
just hours away, Sancho openly admits to the distortive power of fear, his
fear: «Así es -dijo Sancho-; pero tiene
el miedo muchos ojos y vee las cosas debajo de la tierra, cuanto más
encima del cielo...»
(I, 180). For a full
presentation of that discussion, underscoring Don Quijote's ironical remarks,
see Casasayas, 121-22. (N. from the A.)
114
The narrator's descriptions, which usually confirm Sancho's perceptions, are not in play. When the baroque Cervantes wants to bring even the narrator's apparitional descriptions into doubt, he employs the more elaborate 'truco' in which the narrator's direct description -of the visual, in particular- leads to 'engaño'. See Rodriguez-García Sprackling. (N. from the A.)
115
For the theodical relation: 'engaño' / 'desengaño', 'evil' / 'good,' tied to the Counterreformation ideology of the period, see Sáez, 107-110. (N. from the A.)
116
For playfulness as an element in Baroque creativity, see, for example, Warnke's chapter, 'Art as Play'. (N. from the A.)
117
Cervantes' explanation of Sancho's urge, given the
frightening context, is all done playfully tongue in cheek («En esto parece ser, o que el frío de la
mañana... o que Sancho hubiese cenado algunas cosas lenitivas, o que
fuese cosa natural...»
, I, 185), a fact
that is made perfectly clear by Don Quijote's first reaction -in accord with
the empirical popular tie between a loosening of the bowels and fear- after
realizing what Sancho has done: «Paréceme, Sancho, que tienes mucho
miedo»
(1, 186). (N. from the
A.)
118
The previous such insertion, a vomiting scene that recalls the Lazarillo, has occurred shortly before, at the end of chapter 18. (N. from the A.)
119
The vital, resurrecting power of hilarity itself is, of course, a key premise of Bakhtin, Chapter One. (N. from the A.)
120
There is little question that Cervantes, in his insistence on
Sancho's failed attempt to avoid the defecating act's accompanying flatulence,
purposely lingers on the excretory incident: «... le pareció que no podía mudarse sin
hacer estrépito y ruido...»
(185).
(N. from the A.)