“The Eternal Image” of Don Quixote in the Lessons of Literature at School: Methodological Aspect
Author(s)
Olga Yu. Tilina, Postgraduate Student, https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7741-9020, Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia; Teacher Berezovskaya School, Nizhny Novgorod Region,
1a Shkolnaya St, Berezovka village, Bogorodsky municipal district, Nizhny Novgorod region, 607600, Russia, tel: +7 (831) 7047192, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Abstract.
Introduction. The relevance of the article is determined by the need to solve one of the main tasks of the Federal Educational Program of Basic General Education in Literature in 2022, related to introducing students to the heritage of world art culture. The research was conducted as part of a scientific qualification work - a dissertation for the degree of Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences – on the topic “Mastering the potential of “eternal images” by students of grades 7-8th in literature lessons.” The aim of the work is to identify the level of understanding of the “eternal image” of Don Quixote by 7th grade students and to find methodological ways to promote its disclosure and understanding at further stages of school education.
Materials and Methods. Analysis of literature programs aiming to study methodological interpretations of the image of Don Quixote; survey of students in 7th grades aiming to determine the level of knowledge about the Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance.
Results. An analysis of programs and teaching aids on literature allows us to conclude that the novel “Don Quixote” as one of the best works of world literature, a source of moral and aesthetic education has been a program work of secondary schools for more than 30 years. At the same time, the complexity of understanding the image of Don Quixote, the limited number of hours allocated for familiarization with Cervantes’ book in thematic planning, and the lack of modern methodological developments give us grounds for posing the problem of actualizing the study of the novel about Don Quixote in literature lessons. A survey of 7th grade students revealed that the students had not read the novel before studying it and did not know the hero. Meanwhile, the image of Don Quixote helps to better understand not only the works of Russian classical literature, but also the literature of the 20th–21st centuries. The relevance of the novel is also emphasized by the fact that the image of a knight created by Cervantes is close to the worldview of a Russian person. Therefore, in 7th grade, it is necessary to create an initial understanding of this hero in order to further develop an understanding of the “eternal image” of Don Quixote in high school. In the Federal Educational Program of Basic General Education for 2022, two hours are allocated for familiarization with Cervantes’ novel “Don Quixote”. Based on the objectives, the results of the survey, the characteristics of a modern schoolchild-reader, and the analysis of literary studies, a plan for working with the novel in the classroom should be determined. In the first lesson, we recommend introducing students to the era in which Cervantes lived and his biography, so the most striking pages of the Spanish writer’s life should be selected. For a deeper understanding of the historical era and the content of the novel, it is important to understand who the knight is and discuss the chapters of the first volume (1-4, 6, 7) read at home. In the second lesson, you should turn to the chapters of the second volume: 17, 27-29, 33-35, 42, 44, 45. Their analysis will expand the students’ understanding of Don Quixote and help them understand how the hero has changed. The homework will be a creative work: “How do I imagine Don Quixote?”
Discussion and conclusion. The analysis of students’ works demonstrates the manifestation of understanding of the value potential of the “eternal image” of Don Quixote. The study shows that in the 8th grade it is required to actualize the meaning of the image when studying classical and modern works. The teacher in the 9th grade should again turn to the image of Don Quixote when studying the comedy “Woe from Wit”, and in the 10th grade - the article by I.S. Turgenev “Hamlet and Don Quixote”. The idea of the image of Don Quixote will accumulate in students gradually thanks to reading experience, comparative analysis of classical and modern works of art. Targeted work in literature lessons, extracurricular activities will create continuity in the development of the image of the literary hero, which will contribute to the inclusion of his value potential in the cultural and ideological field of students.
Keywords: “eternal image”, Don Quixote, Cervantes, Don Quixotism, knight, moral ideals, Federal Educational Program, foreign literature
For citation: Tilina O.Yu. “The Eternal Image” of Don Quixote in the Lessons of Literature at School: Methodological Aspect. Pedagogicheskiy IMIDZH = Pedagogical IMAGE. 2025; 19 (1). Pp. 64-78. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.32343/2409-5052-2025-19-1-64-78
DOI: https://doi.org/
UDС: 372.882
The article was submitted to the editorial office on 11.01.2025, approved after review on
24.02.2025, and accepted for publication on 28.02.2025.