To mark the literary legend’s 400th death anniversary, the Embassy of Spain in Qatar, in co-operation with the Translation and Interpreting Institute (College of Humanities and Social Sciences, HBKU), is organising a lecture on “the influence of Islam and Moorish culture in the work of Cervantes and his masterpiece Don Quixote” by Dr Muhsin al-Ramli, a Spanish writer, poet, translator, and academic, who teaches at Saint Louis University – Madrid Campus. The lecture will be held at the Cinema Auditorium, Education City, Student Centre, at 6.30pm on October 20. The lecture will be delivered in Arabic with simultaneous translations in English and Spanish.
Ester Borras, Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Spain in Qatar, told Community, “The idea behind such cultural events is to bring together the two countries and the two cultures. Our objective is to showcase some aspects of our culture to the Qataris and the other expats in Qatar, by working together in co-operation with the Qatari authorities. At the Cervantes event, for instance, an exhibition of selected items from Cervantes’ period, from the private collection of Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani will be showcased at the venue.”
The most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature, Cervantes lived in troubled times, both of crisis and splendour, and the conflict of civilisations in the Mediterranean basin was the theatre of operations of the writer. Interestingly, his lifetime coincided with the last Muslim presence in Spain and these circumstances are reflected in his profound knowledge of the Islamic world in his work. His life alone would be worth a novel as his adventures as a soldier, a counsellor and even a tax collector were numerous and extraordinary.
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