The book contains for the first time translated into Russian a full course of lectures on Cervantes' novel, delivered by V. Nabokov at Harvard University in 1951-1952. A wonderful property of Nabokov's literary works is the combination of his writing gift with the thoughtfulness of a grateful reader. Harsh and tender, unbearably biased, but never boring, Nabokov comprehends Cervantes's masterpiece in a new way - he jokes and is sad, accompanying his students, and now readers, into the strange, albeit seemingly so familiar world of Don Quixote.