"O Lord! said I to myself, who can ever remedy this villainy? Who will have the power to make known that the defence is offensive, the sentinels sleep, the trustees rob and those who guard you kill you?" - Bemoaned Berganza....the dog.Who would have thought that a dialogue between two Spanish dogs could be so damn good? Cervantes, señor pícaro, creates a picaresque story of sorts that also includes various slights at the way stories are told, the self-indulgence of philosophers, and the idealize...

An intriguing exploration of how stories are told, this narrative follows the conversation between two dogs who have discovered they can speak like humans and one tells his life story while the other helps him to tell that story better. Filled with funny moments, Dialogue of the Dogs was a particularly interesting read to me because of how it lent itself as a book about writing. When Campuzano first introduces the dialogue to his hospital mate Peralta, it feels as if he is crafting a lore around...

A brilliant read! This is Cervantes at his most eminent. A must read for devotees of Cervantes, which I hasten to add, I count myself amongst. This novella, through the dialogue between two dogs, is the basis for Cervantes narrative. To which he uses full advantage of in exposing the corruptness of society. Moralistic, political, funny, wise and meta-physical, Cervantes’s sophisticated commentary is as relevant in today’s socio-political climate as it was in his day. In summary, this novella has...

It was also meh.. Read for CLit30B

A beautiful picaresque novella by Cervantes, which criticizes humans through two talking dogs! I loved the way the story was told, and I loved the variety of adventures included in it. The novella is centered on criticizing humans’ triviality and behaviors (e.g. hypocrisy, double-life, cheating, illegal and/or extramarital sexual relationships, etc..). The novella is didactic somehow, and addresses various ideas and points, such as social relationships, hypocrisy, education, witchcraft, and good...

SIX WORD REVIEW: Don't just read freakin' Don Quixote.

Cervantes knows what I like, and what I like is TALKIN' DOGS. Definitely more straightforwardly picaresque than 'Don Quixote' (which is the only other thing by Cervantes I've read) with a surprising and somewhat unsettling turn towards grim diabolism towards the end. I don't want to make a monument out of a weird little novella about dogs with bad troubles, but I was a little fascinated by the fact that, fantastic or no, Cervantes still chose to center his narrative among the most down-and-out o...

The Dialogue of the Dogs provides a satirical take on humanity through the eyes of two dogs who have been given the power of speech for a night. When my friend told me this about one of her favourite books, I was intrigued and starting reading it. I mean, it's got dogs, how can you not be interested in a book about talking dogs? The book was nice to read and I had an even better time discussing its ideas with my friend. Reading a fav book of a friend is a good way to get to know someone even bet...

http://theseagullswings.blogspot.com/...I have a week to get back into this, after a week and a half of traveling - Canada, Hong Kong, Israel, New York City, and now, finally, rural Massachusetts - a place that honors its writers. Just yesterday, on the bus, we passed the Stowe house, and (a) Twain house. And supposedly Melville dreamt up Moby Dick by looking at the mountains here. And somewhere, Philip Roth is hiding in the middle of the woods. So, writing inspiration may find me here too. Alas...

Let's face it: I'll never get around to reading Don Quixote, even though it sounds like something I'd enjoy.Thankfully, Hesperus Press has taken on the task of publishing and bringing attention to shorter works by great authors, so that people can get a taste of some of the classic author's styles without having to commit to long works. They try to keep these books to about 100 pages each, though I've noticed that they take liberties with font size to stick to that limit. This one has a smallish...

This is my first Blondie Birthday month read for this year and the first year without the sweet kid! 🐶💖 I been reading dog centered books for several years now, in honor of my kid with a tail and I will continue to do so annually. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra's The Deceitful Marriage starts this Kindle version of The Dialogue of the Dogs but since both stories only connected by Ensign Campuzano presence in the hospital hearing the dogs talk and quite different than the introduction short story;

“Their topics were many and varied, more what you’d expect from a pontiff than a mastiff.”You don’t have to believe dogs can talk to enjoy this. It does help though, if like many dog lovers, you are used to hearing their voices in your head. Then you can recognize that Cervantes got the tone and tenor just right here. This is too short to be comparable to Don Quixote, but there are similar elements. Berganza relays the tales of his many experiences, his many masters, and his thoughts on philosop...

Anachronistic translation but a fun introduction to Cervantesin recommending Miguel de Cervantes’ The Dialogue of the Dogs (Art of the Novella) the point should be made that witty is not the same as laugh out loud funny, neither is satire. Both terms apply to this book, but I cannot say that I spend much time laughing. In this case I am more of a general reader and not fully versed on the historic context of this book such that I can exactly relate the academic analysis of it to the words on the...

Lots of writers have used sentient animals as a tool for satirizing the human condition. Miguel de Cervantes did it first... or at least firster than most of the other ones you'll find. What bothers me about many books of this type is that often the animals criticize humans with a superior, judgmental attitude that makes them just as flawed and obnoxious as the people they're trying to satirize. Cervantes avoids this by having his dogs prone to the same foils of man. It's an amusing book, but re...

Boring, relentless self reflection with no actual self-discovery. A moralist piece holy influenced by catholic ideals and little actual merit as a story. Hard pass.

It is a good narrative illustrationg the evilness and the corruption of the society. It makes you respect the two dogs as if they were philosophers of their time holding a mirror for us.

“For although I am telling the truth, they are not, the truths of the confessional.” The narrator may be unreliable, but he and his dogs are exceptionally insightful and funny. As satire, the dogs are sterling stand-ins for the powerless, giving us a look at how those on the outside observe, cope and occasionally thrive.

I have amassed over time plenty of anecdotal evidence suggesting that I am far from alone in having found actually discovering Cervantes be actually reading Cervantes monumentally revelatory. I think most of us assume we are in store for some stodgy, leaden writing rife w/ the dust of antiquity. When I was a kid, my older cousin would threaten to read to us from old books my parents kept and had never read, DON QUIXOTE foremost among them, and we would plead w/ him emphatically to abstain from s...

As the dogs share their experiences and opinions about the masters they've had during their life, so does Cervantes takes the opportunity to satirize people from all walks of society. This was a pleasant read mostly due to the writing style and also because the author plays with the possibility that the dogs are men under a witch's curse, but the some stereotypes (gypsies, jews etc) are not really pleasant to hear.

If dogs could talk in a human language, I don't believe they would talk so much about how great racism and christianity is, how good it is to have 'high-born' rulers and 'low-born' servants.In the beginning of the story, I appreciated that they talked mostly of how nice it was to have friendly human friends, the playing and resting and so on. But eventually it became a tirade against Roma peoples, black people, poor people and poets/artists, and so on, and a generous heaping of 'isn't christiani...