Notre Dame to celebrate 400th anniversary of 'Don Quixote'

Throughout April, Don Quixote’s Ventures at Notre Dame will encompass several cultural events to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the publication of Miguel de Cervantes’s widely-known novel. According to the Nanovic Institute’s website, Notre Dame will be celebrating the anniversary with a series of events “exploring the impact of this influential work of literature from the Spanish Golden Age.”

Throughout the month, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures will be hosting a variety of events including readings, films and an academic symposium. Encarnación Juárez-Almendros, associate professor of early modern Spanish literature, said the events are important for promoting Hispanic culture on campus.

“These events bring awareness of the literary and cultural importance of the best-known Spanish author and work to the greater Notre Dame community,” she said. “This intellectual undertaking underlines the relevance of the Hispanic cultural tradition as part of the University of Notre Dame’s global and multicultural commitment.”

On Friday, undergraduate students in beginning Spanish courses will participate in QuijoteaND — Becoming Quixote. According to the Nanovic Institute website, starting at 2 p.m. the students will be reciting key passages from “Don Quixote” at various locations around campus, ultimately meeting up at the Grotto at 3 p.m.

The Quixote Film Series will have showings of Jorge Alí Triana’s film, “Bolívar soy yo,” on April 20 and Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Oscar winning film, “Birdman” on April 28, according to the Nanovic website. Both films will be shown at Andrews Auditorium in Geddes Hall at 7 p.m. and are open and free to the public.

Students from Juárez-Almendros’s graduate seminar will present papers in 118 O’Shaughnessy Hall on April 23, 3:30 p.m. Students presenting include senior Mayra Almeida-Trejo, graduate students Alejandro Castrillon, Laura Fernández, Thomas Mann, Paola Uparela-Reyes and Leila Vieira de Jesus Gemelli, and Ph.D. candidates Marisol Fonseca-Malavasi and Natalia Rios-Puras.

The final event is an academic symposium April 24, sponsored by the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies.

“Four invited internationally recognized early modern Spanish scholars will lecture on diverse aspects of this complex novel,” Juárez-Almendros said. These scholars include Frederick de Armas of the University of Chicago, Anne Cruz of the University of Miami (Fla.), Edward Friedman of Vanderbilt University and Luciano Garcia-Lorenzo of the Board of Governors of Scientific Research in Madrid.

The symposium will take place at Gillsepie Conference Center at Saint Mary’s College from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.