Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
Sam DuChamp, a poor author of spy thrillers, was inspired by the Cervantes classic when he created Quichotte, a courtly, insane salesperson who is infatuated with television and falls hopelessly in love with a TV celebrity. Quichotte embarks on a picaresque trek throughout America with his (fictitious) son Sancho in order to earn her hand, gallantly overcoming the tragicomic dangers of a time when “Anything-Can-Happen.” His creator, who is going through a midlife crisis, is facing similar pressing issues.
Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
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Rushdie takes the reader on a wild ride through a nation on the point of moral and spiritual collapse, much like Cervantes did with Don Quixote, which was written to ridicule the culture of his time. The fully formed lives of DuChamp and Quichotte mix in a very human desire for love and a wickedly humorous depiction of an era in which fact is so frequently difficult to distinguish from fiction with the kind of storytelling magic that is the hallmark of Rushdie’s work.
The book’s great breadth and depth are its true assets. It is a book that is overflowing with concepts. It’s a book that, in order to keep the contents from spilling out, presumably has to be sealed with strong elastic bands. Quichotte and the Author are able to examine ageing, death, grief, filial estrangement, parental abuse, parental love, climate change, the expatriate experience, celebrity culture, rising political xenophobia, the silicon valley culture, and a plethora of other topics thanks to their respective physical and emotional journeys.
