From the AP:
--"Don Quixote," the 17th-century Spanish tale about a madcap knight, was voted
the world's best work of fiction by a poll of the world's leading authors on
Tuesday. Miguel de Cervantes' work eclipsed the plays of Shakespeare and
masterpieces by authors from Homer to Tolstoy in the survey of a galaxy of 100
authors unveiled at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Writers including Salman
Rushdie, Milan Kundera, John le Carre, John Irving, Nadine Gordimer, Carlos
Fuentes and Norman Mailer gave "Don Quixote" 50 percent more votes than the
second-ranked work on the list of 100 novels, stories and plays. Details of
which works trailed Don Quixote were not immediately given. Each author was
asked to name what she or he considered the 10 "best and most central works in
world literature." Writers from more than 50 nations took part. Don Quixote, a
satirical romance published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, tells of an aging
knight who wanders around La Mancha, central Spain, doing hare-brained acts of
chivalry to prove his love for Dulcinea del Toboso, whom he has never met. The
poll was organized by editors of Norwegian Book Clubs as part of a drive to
promote classical literature against challenges from television, videos and
computer games. It said that 10 authors had more than one book on the list --
Dostoyevsky led with four, Kafka, Shakespeare and Tolstoy had three while
Faulkner, Flaubert and Garcia Marquez, Homer, Thomas Mann and Virginia Woolf
had two.
--"Don Quixote," the 17th-century Spanish tale about a madcap knight, was voted
the world's best work of fiction by a poll of the world's leading authors on
Tuesday. Miguel de Cervantes' work eclipsed the plays of Shakespeare and
masterpieces by authors from Homer to Tolstoy in the survey of a galaxy of 100
authors unveiled at the Norwegian Nobel Institute. Writers including Salman
Rushdie, Milan Kundera, John le Carre, John Irving, Nadine Gordimer, Carlos
Fuentes and Norman Mailer gave "Don Quixote" 50 percent more votes than the
second-ranked work on the list of 100 novels, stories and plays. Details of
which works trailed Don Quixote were not immediately given. Each author was
asked to name what she or he considered the 10 "best and most central works in
world literature." Writers from more than 50 nations took part. Don Quixote, a
satirical romance published in two parts in 1605 and 1615, tells of an aging
knight who wanders around La Mancha, central Spain, doing hare-brained acts of
chivalry to prove his love for Dulcinea del Toboso, whom he has never met. The
poll was organized by editors of Norwegian Book Clubs as part of a drive to
promote classical literature against challenges from television, videos and
computer games. It said that 10 authors had more than one book on the list --
Dostoyevsky led with four, Kafka, Shakespeare and Tolstoy had three while
Faulkner, Flaubert and Garcia Marquez, Homer, Thomas Mann and Virginia Woolf
had two.
