Wile E. Quixote

Pierre Menard, Author of The Quixote from "Labyrinths," by Jorge Borges

A French author holes himself up in seclusion for a very long time. He is particularly brilliant, and this trait has allowed him to master the 17th-century Spanish dialect in a relatively short amount of time. He becomes so engrossed in the time period that he happens to recreate (on his own), word-for-word, some fragments of Cervantes' Don Quixote.

The narrator of the story presentsa literary review of Menard's The Quixote. He pulls a passage and describes how Cervantes' version is "almost expected" because of the commentary he was making in his own time, while Menard's work is pure genius because the allusion is thicker, since Menard is a modern author.

When I first read through the story, I misunderstood it as Menard just going off and copying the original text and passing it off as his own "interpretation." And the thought of someone praising this as "genius" just made me roll. After having the real message pointed out to me, however, I think it's a lot crazier. Someone assuming Cervantes' persona to the point he is able to recreate his works? HAHA. And the idea that since the setting of the book is so far removed from the modern day, this new Quixote is oh-so-much more potent a piece of literature. That cracks me up.

So I drew a modern day author (much more modern than when Borges wrote this short story) assuming a knightly persona.

And I also drew this:

Which is, of course, a pencil mace. Writing is a powerful and potentially dangerous sport, my friends.

About the illustrations:
These were done in Micron pen. I'm having fun with this sketchier style!