#cervantes

[enchantedbook]

Miguel de Cervantes 'Don Quixote' illustrated by Gustave Dore, 1863.

[quiltofstars]

The constellation of Ara, the Altar // E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani

Click below for some info about this constellation as well as an annotated image!

Ara, which is Latin for "altar," is one of the original 48 constellations set down by Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

In Greek mythology, Ara was the altar where the gods first made offerings before fighting the Titans during the Titanomachy. In usual depictions, the altar has flames and smokes "rising" towards the south.

There are two named stars in Ara:

Cervantes (μ Arae) is a Sun-like star about 51 light years away. It has four confirmed exoplanets orbiting it: Dulcinea, with about half the mass of Neptune; Rocinante, with about half the mass of Jupiter; Quijote, with about 1.5 times the mass of Jupiter; and Sancho, with about twice the mass of Jupiter. These names were given by the people of Spain: Cervantes refers to the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. The exoplanets share names with characters from that novel: Quijote, the lead character; Dulcinea, his love interest; Rocinante, his horse; and Sancho, his squire.

Inquill (HD 156411) is another Sun-like star about 181 light years away. It has one confirmed exoplanet orbiting it, about 75% the mass of Jupiter, named Sumajmajta. Both names were given by the people of Peru: they are the two main characters in the love story Way to the Sun by Peruvian author Abraham Valdelomar.

[uwmspeccoll]

Milestone Monday: Miguel de Cervantes is born!

On September 29th, 1547, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. To celebrate the great Spanish writer, we are highlighting one of the stories originally collected in Novelas ejemplares, published in 1613, between the first and second parts of Don Quijote.

Our copy of The Dialogue of the Dogs was released by The Allen Press in 1969, in a limited edition of 140 copies. Dorothy Allen and Lewis Allen designed the book, and completed the printing and binding in Kenfield, California, working with a nineteenth century translation by Walter Keating Kelly. The type is a hand set Goudy 30; the rag paper is by the Wookey Hole paper mill, which closed in 1972. Mallette Dean (1907-1975) created the exuberant ornamentations that border the text.

See more posts about Cervantes!

See more Milestone Monday posts!

--Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[sivavakkiyar]

From Nabokov’s Lectures on Don Quixote

[inthemoodforblastt]

El Cautivo is awful, but I’m giving it an 8/10 because I’ve realised it’s literally the greatest Trojan horse in history. It starts out as the perfect film for straight men starving for macho suffering, hetero honour and glory in some interwar period, and ends up being a full-on fujoshi enemies-to-lovers fantasy. From that perspective, it’s brilliant. All my tens.

[literarystims]

Don Quixote by bookmarked_by_ryn

[illustratus]

The Mock Serenade (Cervantes' Don Quixote) by Gustave Doré

[viejospellejos]

Bonita y completa es la lengua de Cervantes