Two in one: (Close) Rereading of Don Quixote´s ingenious epilogue

Abstract

To close Don Quixote, in its last two paragraphs Cervantes makes several extraordinary statements germane to the uncommon prologues they refer to. External to the novel’s narrative itself, they have a metatextual character analogous to that of the authorial epilogues. They are especially effective inasmuch as attributed to both the fictitious Cide Hamete and to Cervantes as prologuist. This ingenious identity equivocation suggests the duplicitous character of creative authority of two authors in one enriched by their mutual confluence. The collaborative merging of identities among them, objectified in the shared pen inherently part of all quixotic matter, strengthens conclusively the exclusive and total unique authorship of the novel against possible imitators.