Ortega y Gasset’s first book Meditaciones del Quijote is here once more analyzed, stressing the relevance of its theory of the novel for its philosophy. After noting its similitudes with the wellknown study of G. Lukacs’ Theory of the Novel, it is suggested that Ortega viewed the novel as a means to study the real structure of human life, and, as a result, he viewed the “Quixote” as a truly adequate door through which to enter into the philosophy of human (...) life or existence, the understanding of Spanish idiosyncratic mentality, and the peculiarities of the novel as compared with other literary genres. (shrink)