Cervantes and the Cave of Montesinos: Classical Quotations and Allusions. Philological Study of Chapters XXIII and XXIV of the Second Part

Abstract

In chapters 23 and 24 of the 1615 edition on the occasion of Don Quixote’s descent into the cave of Montesinos, it can be established with certain evidence how Cervantes usually writes under literary authorities that support and give luminosity to all his writing. Thanks to such a recreation of the previous tradition, he manages to build a unique, classic, universal work that, by revitalizing and relying on themes, myths and literary assumptions of its predecessors, grows into the greatest monument of Hispanic literature.