Center for the Humanities begins project exploring Don Quixote

The Center for the Humanities is preparing to begin one of its most ambitious projects to date: Don Quixote in Wisconsin.

This yearlong, statewide initiative is being coordinated with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and with support from the Center for European Studies, Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS), the Center for European Studies, the Language Institute, the Integrated Liberal Studies program, the Honors Program and the department of Spanish and Portuguese.

The center will join organizations and universities around the world in marking the 400th anniversary of the publication of Part I of Miguel de Cervantes’ “Don Quixote.” The project will involve 20-25 Wisconsin high schools and will offer a teacher colloquium, lectures, curricular resources, Web-based resources and a student conference next spring.

Several programs during Don Quixote in Wisconsin, such as the teacher colloquium and student conference, will provide resources and information specifically to teachers participating in the project. Others will be open to public audiences.

The first event will be a lecture by Yale University’s Roberto González Echevarría. His lecture will take place at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 15, in Room L140, Chazen Museum of Art. González Echevarría is an authority on Spanish and Latin American literature and on “Don Quixote.” His books include “Love and Law in Cervantes’ Don Quixote” (2006), “Don Quixote: A Casebook” (2005) and “The Pride of Havana: A History of Cuban Baseball.”

Don Quixote in Wisconsin will be the pilot version of a design for a recurring annual series designed to foster the teaching and discussion of major works of literature, philosophy and social thought.

For more information, visit http://www.humanities.wisc.edu or call 263-3412.