Cervantes, the journey, and what it tells us about becoming a writer

Knight, Lania ORCID: 0000-0003-1024-8889 (2017) Cervantes, the journey, and what it tells us about becoming a writer. Open Cultural Studies, 1. pp. 391-394. doi:10.1515/culture-2017-0036

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Abstract

The article traces the notion of empathy in fiction writing and how Cervantes’s treatment of characters in Don Quixote initiated a tradition which is ongoing in literature even today. The path of the writer is examined as a means for understanding how a writer must develop empathy for others, beginning with quotes from writers Hélène Cixous and Henry James. Next, within the current political context of global upheaval and shift following on from the election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S.A. as well as the vote for Brexit in the U.K., the article argues for the relevance of Cervantes’s novel, not as a dated work of fiction, but as a text relevant both in form and in content for the modern political climate. Finally, the connection is made between fiction writers’ ability to feel empathy for others and create characters which readers will feel empathy for. The article follows on to proclaim the revolutionary and timely role of the fiction writer to help save us from ourselves in a tumultuous political landscape made unpredictable by social media-generated confirmation bias and insularity.

Item Type:	Article
Article Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Cervantes; Fiction; Writer’s journey; Don Quixote; Empathy
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN0080 Criticism P Language and Literature > PR English literature > PR750 Prose > PR821 Prose fiction. The novel
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Creative Arts
Research Priority Areas:	Culture, Continuity, and Transformation
Depositing User:	Susan Turner
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2018 12:54
Last Modified:	31 Aug 2023 08:55
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/6043

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