Miguel of Portugal

In our current times, a growing trend in entertainment is a work of art’s ability to be “Meta”. Meta is an adjective referring to a work of art’s ability to be self-referential; in other words, to be aware of itself and its genre. This has also be described as “Hanging a Lampshade” or “Breaking the Fourth Wall”. A few notable examples of Meta works in modern art include television series such as 30 Rock (2006), Family Guy (1999) and Community (2009), or movies such as Scream (1996) or Cabin in…

dentists, personal trainers, make-up artists, hair stylists, and fashion advisors worked to alter a person’s looks in an attempt to transform the person’s life and ultimately make his or her dreams come true. The show was called Extreme Makeover. Miguel de Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote is the story of an extreme makeover gone wrong. Though Alonso Quixano tries to recreate himself as a hero and make his dreams come true, in reality he is only a pseudo hero; though he himself looks beyond social…

Man of La Mancha and Don Quixote The film Man of La Mancha is a movie that is based on both Don Quixote and its canonical collection, making it a more loosely canon piece within the canon. The film, which was released in 1972, is originally based off the 1964 musical of the same name. The musical itself is also based upon a 1959 teleplay, making the movie actually a canon piece based on a canon piece based on another canon piece based upon the original material. If that isn’t crazy, I don’t know…

uses various forms of humor, irony, hyperbole and incongruity to mock a person’s stupidity and ignorance. During the Enlightenment era, a time of intellectual and cultural advancement, the use of satire enters into the writings of both Voltaire and Miguel de Cervantes. Although these stories were written in the distant past, the idea of satire can be applied to the modern-day film, Mean Girls. This comedy details the journey of a teenager entering a new school and the steps she takes to be…

our imagination is something we use as a tool to escape daily life. A way to rejuvenate our souls, a quick passage to a world away from any problems we may have, yet most importantly it is a way to remind us that what is real, is in fact real. In Miguel de Cervantes’ novel ‘El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha’, the main protagonist Don Quijote has trouble separating what is real to what is only in his imagination. Throughout the novel, Don Quijote believes he is a knight and demands he…

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is the author of Don Quijote de la Mancha, and one of the greatest prose writers of all time. He is one of the most famous figures in the Spanish literature. As a poet and novelist, don Quijote had remarkable accomplishments including the creation of Don Quijote de la Mancha. Cervantes was born in the university town of Alcala de Henares, Spain, in 1547, and lived during el Siglo de Oro. His life was full of hardships and adventures. While his father searched for…

Lauren Henderson Eng-371-001 October 21, 2015 Behind the Brutal Amid the Spanish Civil War, Camilo Jose Cela wrote a novel showing the destruction of Spanish traditions and society with such realism and horrific imagery that the first two editions were banned. Drawing from his interpretations of what Spanish society was for most people, Cela published La Familia de Pascual Duarte (The Family of Pascual Duarte) and was hugely successful. His novel is focused on themes of war and family and…

In Curtis Perry’s article “Piranesi’s Prison: Thomas De Quincey and the Failure of Autobiography, Perry argues that in order to get a full version of De Quincey’s autobiography we must look outward to his other works; since, Perry claims that De Quincey’s works (perhaps due to his opium addiction) are much like the confusing muddle of the Piranesi paintings that De Quincey critically admires. Perry breaks up his argument by first looking at Confessions of an English Opium Eater, then he moves…

Quixote & Panza vs Holmes and Watson: A Comparison The Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes was known during his time as a great writer of fiction. He wrote a good number of books, but the story he is most known for is, without a doubt, The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha, now usually shortened to Don Quixote. Cervantes’ stick-thin, basin-wearing, certifiably mad “knight-errant” Quixote and his donkey-riding deluded sidekick Sancho Panza are…

A quinceanera is the spanish word for a girl who is fifteen. Among the many latinos in the United States today, quinceanera is the name also giving to the coming of age celebration on a girl’s fifteenth birthday. The word quinceanera has been around for centuries and has been in many different cultures and origins. A quinceanera can prepare a girl for womanhood, so the older women can teach them about the roles they will have to do in the near future. Today a quinceanera is a lavish party that…