For the first time in the history of Cervantes studies and thanks to the sponsorship of The Humanities Council’s David Gardner ’69 Magic Grant and the support Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the two major world associations: the Cervantes Society of America and the Asociación de Cervantistas agreed to hold a joint international conference with the objective of fostering a transoceanic collaboration between scholars from North America, Europe, Latin America and Asia.

As Marina Brownlee reminded the public in her opening speech, Princeton was the home of Américo Castro and Alban Forcione, two founders of modern Cervantes

studies, and it is fitting that it’d be the host for such historic event. In her own remarks, Christina Lee noted that the beautiful soundscapes formed by the different tonalities and accents that were heard during the conference, in both English and Spanish, serve as testimony to Cervantes’ globality and inclusivity. Indeed, the conference welcomed about one hundred and twenty scholars from sixteen different countries, including Mexico, India, Canada Brazil, Israel, Argentina, Guatemala, Portugal, Greece, and Spain. Participants also ranged from very senior scholars to graduate students, including one of SPO's own Gastón Pérez. During three full days, these Cervantes scholars had the opportunity to attend and present at one of the twenty-seven panels that aimed at exploring the Cervantes effect in the world during the early modern period and beyond. Two of the leading Cervantistas of our generation gave two impactful keynote speeches during the first two days of the conference. Professor Anne Cruz spoke about “Fortuna, Power, and Women in Don Quijote” and “Uno y trino: (Close) Re-reading of the Ingenious Epilogue of Don Quijote.”

The planning of this conference began in 2019 and it was made possible thanks to the team effort of the organizing committee composed by Mercedes Alcalá Galán (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Marina Brownlee (Princeton University), Ana Laguna (Rutgers University-Camden), Christina Lee (Princeton University), Isabel Lozano Renieblas (Darmouth College), and José Manuel Martín Morán (Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale).