Cervantes; Saadi of Spanish Literature
IBNA Literature Service – Mandana Tishyar, Vice President for Research at Allameh Tabataba’i University: The holding of Cervantes Night and the remembrance of Mohammad Ghazi at the Faculty of Persian Language and Literature and Foreign Languages of Allameh Tabataba’i University, in cooperation with the esteemed Bukhara Magazine and the Embassy and Cultural Attaché of Spain in Tehran, once again provided a new opportunity for dialogue between Iranian and Spanish culture enthusiasts.
Over five hundred years of diplomatic relations between the long-standing governments of the two countries, and interactions among researchers, literati, and diplomats over these centuries, have created such a favorable ground for scientific and cultural cooperation that today Spain is considered Iran’s most important scientific partner in Europe in the field of humanities and social sciences. Over the past decade, cooperation between Allameh Tabataba’i University and universities and scientific and cultural institutions across Spain is a clear example of the numerous capacities for collaboration between academics of the two countries. Holding conferences on the historical relations between Iran and Andalusia, publishing joint books, organizing workshops and scientific meetings in Tehran, Madrid, and other cities of the two countries, exchanging professors and students, and striving to introduce Iranian and Spanish luminaries to the scientific communities of both countries have been among the collaborations in recent years.
Dedicating one of Bukhara’s nights to Cervantes, the creator of “Don Quixote” and a symbol of Spanish literature, whom they call the Prince of Wit, opened a new window for scientific and cultural cooperation between academic institutions. A number of researchers call Cervantes the Saadi of Spanish literature and believe that these two masters of rhetoric strive to be a complete mirror of society in their time, blending reality and imagination to critique shortcomings through humor and the use of refined literature.
Even today, the impact that Don Quixote had on the character of Uncle Napoleon, the enduring work of Iraj Pezeshkzad which Naser Taghvai brought to the screen, and which shaped a part of political literature in Iran, on the one hand, indicates cultural commonalities between the two societies, and on the other hand, shows a good capacity for comparative studies in the field of Persian and Spanish language and literature, and the necessity of planning for the translation of more important literary works of these two languages, with the aim of increasing greater awareness of literary nuances among the people of these societies.
Along with expressing gratitude to the organizers of this esteemed program, I would like to announce Allameh Tabataba’i University’s interest in expanding scientific and cultural cooperation with academic institutions in Spain, and especially emphasize the importance of conducting joint research and publishing scientific books and articles in both Persian and Spanish. It is hoped that these collaborations will expand from the field of language and literature to other areas of humanities and social sciences, making the long-standing ties between Iran and Spain more enduring.
