The Unfinished Masterpiece: Pierre Menard Author of Don Quixote

📚Pierre Menard wanted to write Don Quixote exactly as Cervantes had written it, word for word.

🤔Menard's goal was not to copy Cervantes but to become a person who could spontaneously produce the same book.

💡Menard's inspiration came from total identification with a specific author and a dislike for books that put well-known characters in contemporary settings.

📝Menard succeeded in writing only two and a half chapters of Don Quixote, but the narrator imagines him as the true author of the entire book.

🔍Menard's legacy lies in his technique of reading, which involves deliberate anachronisms and erroneous attributions to create new meaning.

Why did Pierre Menard want to rewrite Don Quixote?

—Menard's goal was not simply to rewrite Don Quixote but to become a person who could spontaneously produce the same book, word for word, as Cervantes had written it.

Did Pierre Menard successfully write Don Quixote?

—Although Pierre Menard only managed to write two and a half chapters of Don Quixote, the narrator imagines him as the true author of the entire book.

What was Menard's inspiration for his project?

—Menard was inspired by the idea of total identification with a specific author and a dislike for books that put well-known characters in contemporary settings.

What is Menard's legacy?

—Menard's legacy lies in his technique of reading, which involves deliberate anachronisms and erroneous attributions to create new meaning.

What philosophical questions does Pierre Menard's story raise?

—The story of Pierre Menard raises questions about authorship, meaning, and the power of interpretation. It challenges ideas about what it means to be an author and how meaning is created and perceived.

00:01Introduction to the story of Pierre Menard, a 20th-century author who aimed to recreate Don Quixote word for word.

01:30Menard's ambition was not to copy Cervantes but to become a person who could spontaneously produce the same book.

02:42Menard succeeded in writing only two and a half chapters of Don Quixote, but the narrator imagines him as the true author of the entire book.

03:43Menard's legacy lies in his technique of reading, which involves deliberate anachronisms and erroneous attributions to create new meaning.