Video: Collaborative online reading of Don Quixote


Don Quixote & Sancho Panza by spotter_nl used according to CC Attribution License


One of the most loved works of literary fiction, Don Quixote, has come to life through YouTube. Hundreds of volunteers are reading fragments of Miguel de Cervantes’ work and uploading them to the ElQuijote Channel.

The Spanish Royal Academy (RAE in Spanish) and YouTube have come together to make the greatest edition of Don Quixote: this time in video, collaboratively made by participants from all over the world who each read one of 2149 fragments.   Víctor García de la Concha, the director of the RAE, opens the invitation to all:

There are already hundreds of Quixote videos uploaded on the site, but there are still more that need to be read and uploaded. By clicking on the “participar” button, you will be given a fragment to read, and a 6 hour deadline to upload the video corresponding to that fragment. If you haven't been able to upload the video by that time, the fragment will be assigned to someone else. Then the video is uploaded, reviewed and if it is accepted it then becomes part of the El Quijote 2.0. Following, some of the fragments that have already been uploaded:

Javi Goñi, from Spain, reads his fragment of El Quixote from a Braille printout. In it, Don Quixote meets Aldonza Lorenzo and decides that she will be the lady of his thoughts, renaming her Dulcinea del Toboso:

Juan Manuel, from Mota del Cuervo in Spain, reads his fragment standing in front of three windmills. And it isn't surprising that he chose that venue, since the area is described thus on its website:

Porque, también hay que decirlo, Mota del Cuervo es un pueblo tremendamente quijotesco, enclavado en lo más circunstancial de la geografía en la que discurrieron las aventuras y desventuras del inmortal personaje cervantino.

Because, we have to say it, Mota del Cuervo is a truly quixotic town, buried deep in the most circumstantial of the geography where the adventures and misfortunes befell the immortal Cervantine character.

All the way in Villarica, Chile, Héctor Bustos reads the story of the Curious Impertinent; about Anselmo, a suspicious traveler who doubts of his wife's fidelity and his friend Lothario, whom Ansemo convinces to try and seduce her.

But not all people read. Tremolo22 from Argentina sings his fragment:

Menchulica from the Canary Islands doesn't even appear as herself. In accordance with the rest of her videos, she uploads an animation with a distorted voice:

So if you like The Adventures of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha and speak Spanish, you can also join in and become part of this worldwide experience.

One of the most loved works of literary fiction in Spanish, Don Quixote, has come to life through YouTube. Hundreds of volunteers are reading fragments of Miguel de Cervantes’ work and uploading them to the ElQuijote Channel.

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