Don Quixote

Don Quixote,[a][b] the full title being The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha,[c] is a Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes. It was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615. Considered a founding work of Western literature, it is often said to be the first modern novel.[2][3] Don Quixote is also one of the most-translated books in the world[4] and one of the best-selling novels of all time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote

Brian Marick: The day after I speculated that the 20th century was somehow special in its fascination with self-reference, I heard a podcast about Cervantes’ /Don Quixote/ that emphasized how self-referential it is. (For example, in the second part of the novel, Don Quixote meets people who’ve read the first part.) This was arguably the first novel ever, and already we get metatextual games.