Part I, Chapter 8 (p. 85).

That Cervantes was aware of this is implicit in the fact that in his comic novelas, just as in Don Quixote, he repeatedly draws attention to the extraordinary traits of his characters (the wit of Preciosa, the sanctimoniousness of Monipodio's gang) and displays them in conversational episodes. See, for example, the reflections of Rinconete on the conversation that he has overheard in Monipodio's house, at the end of Rinconete y Cortadillo. I have used the edition of Novelas ejemplares by F. Rodríguez Marín, 2 vols. (Madrid, 1957), I, 216-17.

Or, indeed, like certain Italian novelle, which are brief anthologies of motti by some celebrated wit. See Franco Sacchetti, Il Trecentonovelle, ed. Vincenzo Pernicone (Florence: Sansone, 1546), novella 41.

See Don Quixote Part it, Chapter 25, p. 725, Cf. Persiles y Sigismunda Book II, Chapter 6, ed. cit., I, 194.

The strength of Cervantes's impulse to apply this principle in Don Quixote is not only evident from his practice; it is clearly implied by Cide Hamete Benengeli's facetious complaint (Part II, Chapter 44), about the necessity of having to restrict himself to the dry and limited subject of Don Quixote's deeds, «sin osar estenderse a otras digresiones y episodios más graves y más entretenidos.» Benengeli also says that «el ir siempre atenido el entendimiento, la mano, y la pluma a escribir de un solo sujeto y hablar por la boca de pocas personas era un trabajo incomportable» (p. 848). The complaint is facetious because Benengeli goes on to explain how he does manage to insert episodes in Part II, avoiding the pitfalls encountered in Part I.

I refer to the multiple forms of erudition or literary expertise which the writer is envisaged as being able to display in the prose-epic: he can parade as astrólogo, cosmógrafo. músico, inteligente en las materias de estado, nigromante, épico, lírico, trágico, cómico (p. 483).

See, e.g., the remark about Don Quixote in Viaje del Parnaso, Chapter 4, lines 25-27: «Yo he dado en Don Quijote pasatiempo / al pecho melancólico y mohino / en cualquiera sazón, en todo tiempo.» Cited from the edition by R. Schevill and A. Bonilla (Madrid: Bernardo Rodríguez, 1922).

One such journey is that made by Tirsi, Damón, Elicio, and Erastro to Daranio's wedding. The cycle of events comprised in it, and in their stay in the village just prior to and during the wedding, lasts from mid-Book II to the end of Book Ill. See the edition by R. Schevill and A. Bonilla, 2 vols. (Madrid: Bernardo Rodríguez, 1914), I, 94 to the end.

An example of a «normal» journey -it immediately precedes that described in n. 18- is the expedition by Galatea and Florisa, later joined by Theolinda, from village to grazing-ground and back. They repeat the expedition next morning, meeting Damón and Tirsi on the way. See La Galatea, ed. cit., I, 44-94.

These journeys occur respectively in: Part I, Chapters 11 to 14, Chapters 26 to 32 (the priest and barber retrieve Don Quixote from the Sierra), Chapters 47 to the end (they escort Don Quixote home); Part II, Chapters 16 to 18, Chapters 19 to 21, Chapters 22 to 24. In computing the length of these journey-cycles I include events which are their natural initiation or culmination.