Cervantes - Shakespeare 1616-2016

2016 was a year of commemoration to honour the memory of Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, the two greatest writers of modern Western literature, on the 400th anniversary of their death. We should not bury them in the past and reduce them to little more than mirrors of days gone by, for their works have the potential of meeting modern expectations and representing our world, nor should we confine them to their own time, since today they are omnipresent in different cultures through a variety of representations. Besides, the centenary celebrations would not have been complete without a comparative study of their works, since they are closely related. Shakespeare’s literary greatness should be measured alongside, compared with, and complemented by that of Cervantes, his equal in creative writing and rival in literary supremacy. Accordingly, these essays, which include contributions in Spanish and English, seek to provide us with a deeper understanding of their literary achievement. Four centuries on from the death of Cervantes and Shakespeare, this collection opens up new lines of research and analysis of their works, exploring the common interests and literary traces they have left us to create a new comparative framework, since there are parallels in their lives and works that can help explain their being set apart as writers, on the one hand, while being closely related in what they experienced and sought, on the other, suggesting that Shakespeare is not quite the unique and solitary genius that he is sometimes made out to be. This volume is surely set to become a landmark within Cervantine and Shakespearean studies.