Books: Wineskin into Giant

THE INGENIOUS GENTLEMAN DON QUIXOTE DE LA MANCHA (1,043 pp.)—By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; translated by Samuel Putnam—Viking ($10).

"It appears to me," said Don Quixote, "that translating from one language into another . . . is like gazing at a Flemish tapestry with the wrong side out: even though the figures are visible, they are full of threads that obscure the view and are not bright and smooth as when seen from the other side."

In 3½ centuries, translators in more than 100 languages have proved how right the old knight was. English translations of Don Quixote have either been pieced together...