A passing reference to "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) is also significant because Don Quixote is a novel that contains stand-alone stories within it, much in the same way that The History of Love contains excerpts of a mysterious book called "The History of Love." Other important literary allusions in the novel include references to James Joyce, Franz Kafka, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Leo Tolstoy, Rubén Darío and Pablo Neruda.
A mention of "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) is also noteworthy because Don Quixote is a novel that features self-contained stories, similar to The History of Love which includes excerpts from a mysterious book called "The History of Love." This literary allusion is part of a larger discussion about the novel's references to other notable authors.