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His words still shape our consciousness, even if we fail to read him. This is not due to some hackneyed idealism (“tilting at windmills”), but rather to his pervasive impact on the genre that taught us to think like moderns: the novel. He pioneered the representation of individual subjectivity and aspiration, which today undergirds the construction of agency in any narrative, whether in novels, films, television, or the daily self-fashioning by millions of users of social media.

The post Cervantes’s pen silenced today appeared first on OUPblog.

To celebrate the life of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who died four hundred years ago today, here is an extract taken from Don Quixote de la Mancha.

The post The ingenious gentleman from Don Quixote appeared first on OUPblog.

April 23rd: Celebrate World Book and Copyright Day...

My IT professional brother emailed me this morning to tell me that today is World Book and Copyright Day according to UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (Maybe I should have brought cupcakes to work. Every celebration need cupcakes.)

The UNESCO website says that on this date in 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. April 23rd is also the birthday or death date of other noted authors like Maurice Druon, K. Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.

The purpose of World Book and Copyright Day, says UNESCO, is "to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright." Sound good to this editor.


P.S. The theme of Bob Dylan's radio show today: birds--all songs about birds.

P.P.S. My brother just emailed me again to say that it's also National Jelly Bean Day and National Cherry Cheesecake Day. (When is National Cupcake Day?) Apparently my brother is not very busy at work.

Meerkats Don’t Fly
By Mark Miller
Illustrated by Cathy Butterfield
Good Turn Publishing
ISBN: 9780979439308
Copyright 2007
Hardcover
Ages 4-8

Reviewed by Mayra Calvani

Meerkats Don't Fly is an adorable picture book! The story is sweet, humorous and engaging and the illustrations, done in color pencils, are beautiful.

Little Meerkat Benny is obsessed with the idea of flying, possibly because the first thing he saw from his hole in the ground after he was born was a bird in the sky. The other meerkats constantly remind him that ha can't fly, that it's against the nature of meekats to do so. But Benny has a dream, and none or nobody can get that dream out of his mind. He's going to find a way to fly, no matter what it takes. He comes up with various ideas that don't work, some even dangerous, but he must follow his dream. At the end, he comes up with an ingenious idea... but will it work and will he be able to run free from the dangerous eagle?

This is a story that both teaches and entertains. The dialogue is smart and funny, the story suspenseful as we wonder what will happen with the dangerous eagle, and the illustrations are cute and evoking. This is a winner that will be enjoyed by all young children ages 4--8.

*Originally published on Armchair Interviews