Don Quixote

Don Quixote in Wisconsin is a new, state-wide project to support and encourage the reading and study of the epic comic novel, Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. This state-wide initiative is being coordinated with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and with support from the UW-Madison Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS), Center for European Studies, Language Institute, Integrated Liberal Studies program, Honors Program, and the department of Spanish and Portuguese. The lectures by Roberto González Echevarria and Barbara Fuchs, described elsewhere on this site, are key events in the project.

With Don Quixote in Wisconsin, the Center will join organizations and universities around the world in marking the 400th (and 401st) anniversary of the publication of Part I of Miquel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The project will involve 20-25 Wisconsin high schools and will offer a teacher colloquium, lectures, curricular resources, and a student conference in spring 2006. The Center will actively work to involve teachers in a variety of subjects, including social studies, literature, Spanish, and even environmental studies. An illustration for the project, created by designer Bill Lindmeier, imagines Don Quixote riding a badger with a contemporary wind farm in the background. This fantastic image expresses our hope that teachers and students will explore the Quixote widely and for its timeless relevance.

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.

Don Quixote in Wisconsin is funded in part by a major grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council.