Dec. 5, 2025

#9 Greatest Book of All Time

#9 Greatest Book of All Time

In the History of Literature's list of the 25 Greatest Books of All Time, Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes comes in at #9. In Episode 746, Jacke makes the case for the enduring delight of Don Quixote, which Harold Bloom called the first modern novel.

While there have been numerous adaptations and renderings of Don Quixote, one of my favorites is the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha (1965), which features the memorable and endlessly catchy tune "The Impossible Dream." 

To dream the impossible dream / To fight the unbeatable foe / To bear with unbearable sorrow / To run where the brave dare not go / To right the unrightable wrong / To love pure and chaste from afar / To try when your arms are too weary / To reach the unreachable star / This is my quest to follow that star / No matter how hopeless, no matter how far

25 Greatest Books Of All Time (GBOAT)

Episode 827: American Literature's War on Crime with Theodore Martin

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by an extreme increase in America's prison population, from roughly 250,000 inmates in 1940 to well over two million by 2008. At the same time, American readers were devouring mysteries, thrillers,…

Episode 826: Washington Irving with Phillip Lopate

At the time of Washington Irving's death, he was the most famous and widely praised American writer of his or any other era. But his reputation soon dwindled, and today he's known primarily as the author of just two stories ("The Legend of Sleepy Ho…

Related Episode

445 What Would Cervantes Do? (with David Castillo and William Egginton)
Sept. 26, 2022

445 What Would Cervantes Do? (with David Castillo and William Egginton)

As the author of what is generally considered the first and perhaps greatest novel of the modern era, Miguel de Cervantes and his masterpiece Don Quixote belongs on every shelf. But as two scholars point out in their new book, What Would Cervantes Do? Navigating Post-Truth with Spanish Baroque Literature the lessons to be learned from Cervantes go beyond issues of plot and character. In this episode, Jacke talks to Professor David Castillo and Professor William Egginton about using the example o...
Listen to the Episode
Send Us a Voicemail!