Celebrating Cervantes: A Dialogue between Edith Grossman and William Egginton

On the occasion of the 400 anniversary of Cervantes’ death, renowned translator Edith Grossman and literary scholar William Egginton will discuss the author’s life, works and influence on world literature.

In 1605, a battle-injured, graying veteran of Spain’s wars against the Ottoman Empire published the story of a poor nobleman, his brain addled from reading too many tales of chivalry, who deludes himself that he is a knight errant and sets off on hilarious adventures. That book, Don Quixote, went on to sell more copies than any other beside the Bible, making its author, Miguel de Cervantes, the single most-read author in history. Cervantes did more than just publish a bestseller, though: He created a new way of writing.

Renowned translator of the 2003 edition of Don Quixote, Edith Grossman, along with literary scholar William Egginton, author of The Man Who Invented Fiction: How Cervantes Ushered in the Modern World, will discuss Cervantes’ masterpiece, his life and times, and his extraordinary influence on world literature.