Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) is widely considered to be the finest writer in the Spanish language. Many deem his Don Quixote (pt 1, 1605, pt 2, 1615) the first and greatest modern novel. Forced to leave Madrid after wounding a man in a duel, he moved to Rome to serve under Card. Giulio Aquaviva. He was seriously wounded while commanding a skiff in the Battle of Lepanto and ended up spending five years in captivity when taken hostage by Ottoman corsairs. After regaining his freedom, for years he struggled to make a living. A writer of plays and poetry, he is best remembered for his novels and short stories: La Galatea, Exemplary Stories, The Trials of Persiles and Sigismunda, but above all, The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha.
In this interview, Prof. Michael J. McGrath will explain his pick of the best books on Cervantes and his work, and whether there is more spiritual depth than meets the eye to the escapades and musings of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
Michael J. McGrath is a Professor of Spanish at Georgia Southern University and a corresponding fellow of the San Quirce Royal Academy of History and Art in Segovia, Spain. His research focuses on early modern Spanish life and literature, with special emphasis on cultural studies, the comedia, Don Quixote, and intellectual history. He is the author of more than seventy publications, including Don Quixote and Catholicism: Rereading Cervantine Spirituality, and the first English translation of Spanish priest Ruy López's chess treatise from 1561 titled The Art of the Game of Chess.
His recommended books are:
- The Sanctification of Don Quixote: From Hidalgo to Priest by Eric J. Ziolkowski
- "Incarnation in Don Quixote" in An Idea of History: Selected Essays of Américo Castro by Américo Castro
- Grotesque Purgatory: A Study of Cervantes's Don Quixote, Part II by Henry Sullivan
- Don Quixote and Catholicism: Rereading Cervantine Spirituality by Michael J. McGrath
- Cervantes by Jean Canavaggio
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