Is the Spanish book Don Quijote the most famous book ever?

[Comte Arnau]

As a founding work of modern Western literatura and one of the earliest canonical novels, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published, such as in the World Library's 2002 list, "The 100 Best Books of All Time", which cited Don Quixote as authors' choice for the "best literary work ever written", and has been translated into more languages than any book other than the Bible.

Whoever wrote that committed a mistake. That 'belief' is taken from the sentence of an edition published in the 80s in which it is said that it is the most printed and translated book after the Bible. Even if it was still true -it's already three decades from that edition-, what the quote says is that it has been the "most translated", not the one translated into more languages. In fact, in the catalogue by Instituto Cervantes, there are only 48 languages to which it has been translated. Even if some are probably missing or lost, the languages it's been translated to will be 50 to 60, not many more. It is impressive, of course, but far from, say, the figures for Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, so that wrong quote repeated over and over is just not true.

[Cristiano viejo]

Whoever wrote that committed a mistake. That 'belief' is taken from the sentence of an edition published in the 80s in which it is said that it is the most printed and translated book after the Bible. Even if it was still true -it's already three decades from that edition-, what the quote says is that it has been the "most translated", not the one translated into more languages. In fact, in the catalogue by Instituto Cervantes, there are only 48 languages to which it has been translated. Even if some are probably missing or lost, the languages it's been translated to will be 50 to 60, not many more. It is impressive, of course, but far from, say, the figures for Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, so that wrong quote repeated over and over is just not true.

Yes, I have verified your information and it is correct. Even although some languages dont appear in the catalogue as for example the Indonesian. Perhaps they should have said "more times edited", because for example Don Quijote was edited in English a lot of times since the xvii century etc and taking account the date of when it was written it is very difficult to overcome its number of editions.

I personally do not like this novel and I think that it's totally overrated.

Maybe you dont like it, but you do know it, which is what this thread is about.
Overrated? According to most experts, it is one of the best literary works ever, if no the best, and it has influenced subsequent literary generations in great degree, as few books more have done.
It is anything less overrated, thats sure.

[Tobi]

Too optimism. Did you forgot The Divine Comedy and The Iliad? Also, Romeo and Juliet is more famous than Don Quijote.

[Cristiano viejo]

Too optimism. Did you forgot The Divine Comedy and The Iliad? Also, Romeo and Juliet is more famous than Don Quijote.

No I did not forgot. I already posted about The Iliada some posts ago. The Divine Comedy is not as famous as Don Quijote. Romeo and Juliet indeed is at par with Don Quijote.

Again, for me only some short books like Pinoccio, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and some else can be compared with Don Qujiote in popularity.

[Tobi]

No I did not forgot. I already posted about The Iliada some posts ago. The Divine Comedy is not as famous as Don Quijote. Romeo and Juliet indeed is at par with Don Quijote.

Again, for me only some short books like Pinoccio, Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and some else can be compared with Don Qujiote in popularity.

I think Don Quijote is more famous in hispanics countries. Here in Brazil isn't a very popular book, for example. Romeo and Juliet is, but Pinóquio is super famous (I think is much more famous than Romeo and Juliet in brazilians lands).

[Lithium]

Well guys its great that you appreciate your literature but you should also respect my point of view

[Cristiano viejo]

Well guys its great that you appreciate your literature but you should also respect my point of view

I did it. I just pointed the fact that this thread is not about the technical quality of the book but its popularity.

[Not a Cop]

Certainly not the most famous in Russia, though pretty famous still, from foreign literature i would say Lord of the Rings, Romeo and Juliet and Iliada are at the top.

[Comte Arnau]

The problem here is that something can be very popular in one century and not so much in the next one. It is just logical that nowadays anything written in English, be it a masterpiece or a wannabe dung, becomes automatically more famous. Same applies for music. Cervantes and Quixote were more popular than Shakespeare for a whole century after both were written, attempts to copy it were seen all over Europe, now it's the other way round, and it all has much to do with extraliterary reasons.

The fact is that both Shakespeare and Cervantes made some expressions from their works become part of the language, as the Bible had done, and made their characters become archetypes. One could be today a quixotic Romeo, for instance, who needs to break the ice before tilting at windmills. I wonder how many recent literary works may do that.