Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote (Part 1, 1605; Part 2, 1615) is widely considered the first modern novel and among the greatest works of fiction ever written. It follows the self-styled knight Don Quixote, driven mad by reading too many chivalric romances, who sets out on adventures with his peasant squire Sancho Panza — tilting at windmills believing them to be giants, attacking flocks of sheep thinking them armies. Don Quixote invented the self-aware narrative (characters in Part 2 have read Part 1), the unreliable narrator, and the exploration of the gap between idealism and reality. Cervantes wrote it partly while in prison. It was voted the greatest novel of all time by a global panel of authors in 2002.