Gustave Doré, a world of disorderly notions crowds into his imagination (1863) · public domain
1.1.16
Don Quixote 1.1.16 · His brain dried up1.1.16His brain dried up
The gentleman has been buying and reading romances of chivalry. Now the reading takes over his nights and days.
· · ·
En1
en
In
resolución2
re·so·lu·CIÓN
shortresolution
, él3
él
he
se4
se
himself
enfrascó5
en·fras·CÓ
buriedbottled
tanto6
TAN·to
so deeplyso much
en7
en
in
su8
su
his
letura9
le·TU·ra
reading
, que10
que
that
se13
se
bythemselves
le14
le
for himto him
pasaban15
pa·SA·ban
wentpassed
las11
las
the
noches12
NO·ches
nights
leyendo16
le·YEN·do
reading
de17
de
from
claro18
CLA·ro
daylightclear
en19
en
to
claro20
CLA·ro
daylightclear
, y21
y
and
los22
los
the
días23
DÍ·as
days
de24
de
from
turbio25
TUR·bio
half-lightmurky
en26
en
to
turbio27
TUR·bio
half-lightmurky
; y28
y
and
así29
a·SÍ
sothus
, del30
del
from theof the
poco31
PO·co
little
dormir32
dor·MIR
sleepsleeping
y33
y
and
del34
del
from theof the
mucho35
MU·cho
much
leer36
le·ER
readingto read
, se37
se
upitself
le38
le
histo him
secó39
se·CÓ
dried
el40
el
the
celebro41
ce·LE·bro
brain
, de42
de
soin
manera43
ma·NE·ra
(so)manner
que44
que
that
vino45
VI·no
came
a46
a
to
perder47
per·DER
lose
el48
el
histhe
juicio49
JUI·cio
mindjudgment
. In short, he buried himself so deeply in his reading that the nights went by for him reading all night long, and the days from dawn to dusk; and so, from too little sleep and too much reading, his brain dried up, so that he came to lose his mind.
In short, he buried himself so deeply in his reading that the nights went by for him reading all night long, and the days from dawn to dusk; and so, from too little sleep and too much reading, his brain dried up, so that he came to lose his mind.
Interpretation
In short, he buried himself so deeply in his reading that he spent his nights reading from dusk to daylight and his days from first light to dark. And so, with too little sleep and too much reading, his brain dried up, and he ended up losing his mind.
Two little set phrases carry the clock: de claro en claro, from one clear light to the next, so all night; and de turbio en turbio, from the murky light of dawn to the murky light of dusk, so all day. Cervantes built them as a pair.
The dried brain is a medical idea of the time, presented as fact. Doctors who followed the old theory of the four humors held that the brain should be cool and moist, and that sleepless nights and hard study dried it out. The old spelling celebro (today cerebro) is how Cervantes and most writers of his day spelled it.
1.1.17
Don Quixote 1.1.17 · Everything he read was true1.1.17Everything he read was true
His head is now full of the romances, and he takes every word of them for history.
· · ·
His imagination filled up with all that he read in the books, both of enchantments and of quarrels, battles, challenges, wounds, compliments, love affairs, storms and impossible nonsense; and it settled in such a way in his imagination that all that structure of those famous dreamed-up fictions he read was true, so that for him there was no other history more true in the world.