Cervantes in Mitko Madžunkov’s novels

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to shed light on a key aspect of Macedonian writer Mitko Madžunkov’s novels, especially his tetralogy composed of Vremeto na irvasite (The Time of the Reindeers), 2003; Pticite od lanskite gnezda (The Birds of Yesterday’s Nests), 2012; Pravta na bibliotekite (The Dust of the Libraries), 2019; Vremeto pred prikaznata (The Time before the Story), 2022. It has to do with the intertextual relation that these novels trace with Cervantes’ Don Quixote, from the obvious ones – the second book’s title and the Cervantine characters within the story – to those that require more effort to be discerned and interpreted, like the narrative technique and the essay-length interpretations of Don Quixote, which establish strong links with Madžunkov’s story. Our analysis centres on examples of these three aspects – the narrative technique, the characters and the interpretations – of Madžunkov’s tetralogy, which ought to serve as a starting point for a more exhaustive study.