Don Chisciotte (im)politico. Usi e abusi del cavaliere errante di Cervantes nell'immaginario politico del Novecento e della postmodernità

The legacy of Cervantes’ masterpiece has been very influential on literary and narratological imaginary. And the Miguel de Cervantes’ fictional character has disseminated elements of criticism over time with respect to several of the mechanistic dichotomies of the genesis of modernity. During Nineteenth and Twentieth century we could observe the progressive enlargement of its influence on an alternative kind of imaginery, that is to say the political one. This article aims to analyze the political reflections and, especially, the impolitical ones around the «antihero» knight-errant and «subtle hidalgo». From the first political interpretation made by French Enlightment to the central season of the crisis of Spanish culture and civilization (Unamuno, Ortega y Gasset, Castro), until the contemporary postmodernism and the rediscovery of Don Quijote’s relativism.