Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Our cultural history often involves teaching the thunder of the vanguard long after the rearguard’s dust has settled. The years 2015 and 2016 offered scholars, students, and the public two interconnected cultural mile-markers: 2015 marked the 400th anniversary of the publication of book two of Don Quixote, while 2016 marked 400 years since the passing of modernity’s two supreme literary figures, Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare. Those markers presented the academic year, that included Autumn 2015 and Spring 2016, with great opportunities for celebration, initiation, and erudition. It gave us an occasion that would allow scholars of early Modernity, of Literature, of drama, of the novel, of western civilization, of the Spanish Empire, and of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, to share their erudition with a much larger community than might otherwise gather during a non-celebration year. It is my intention to share with you the collaborations, the events, and the venues that I took part in preparing for those two anniversaries during that academic year. These include collaborations with academic, municipal, and state agencies, campus and community venues, including cinemas, libraries, theaters, and public parks, and events ranging from keynote speakers to film festivals to live and radio jazz and a voice and piano retrospective and, even, Cervantes in the park. I do this in hopes that my study might prove instructive, even inspirational, for all those scholars who anticipate similar opportunities in the future.