Living Quixote

"Living Quixote is an eloquent, necessary bridge between the ivory tower and the street. Miñana marries meticulous scholarship of Cervantes, a literary reading wide and deep, with compelling present-day stories lived by real people who are inspired by 400-year-old imaginings. He thereby makes an urgent, persuasive case for Don Quixote—and the humanities in general—as a wellspring to nourish action that can bring about a more just and accepting world."
—Stephen Haff, founder of Still Waters in a Storm and author of Kid Quixotes

~Stephen Haff

"Rogelio Miñana offers an innovative and fascinating approach to the endlessly engaging Don Quixote. He demonstrates how Cervantes's masterpiece manifests—and reinvents—itself in times, places, and circumstances far removed from early modern Spain. His analysis of the motif of taking Don Quixote to the streets is a major achievement in the field of cultural studies."
—Edward Friedman, author of Cervantes in the Middle and Quixotic Haiku

~Edward Friedman

"Miñana's hemispheric study of 'applied quixotism' represents a groundbreaking addition to contemporary Cervantes scholarship. Living Quixote excavates a uniquely Brazilian reading of Alonso Quijano not as a misguided idealist, but as someone who deliberately performs 'Don Quixote' in order to write his own story, thus inspiring a whole generation of social justice activists across Brazil and beyond."
—Bruce R. Burningham, author of Tilting Cervantes and Radical Theatricality

~Bruce R. Burningham

"In this fascinating and groundbreaking book Miñana veers away from the usual path taken by studies dealing with the impact of Don Quixote, and turns instead to the novel's tremendous repercussions in the vulnerable populations, in the at-risk children, in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Latin America. This eye-opening book presents a Quixote that embodies a genuinely American vision of social justice. Clearly written and forcefully presented, it is a must-read."
—Frederick A. de Armas, author of Don Quixote among the Saracens and Quixotic Frescoes

~Frederick A. de Armas