Estimado Robert,

Muchas gracias por esta preciosa noticia. Aunque sabía que don Quijote, 
Sancho, el rucio y Rocinante se habían vuelto para el hombre de la calle, y 
no solo del mundo hispano, iconos casi tan familiares como el pato Donald, 
el ratón Mickey, Marilyn Monroe, el presidente Clinton y Adolfo Hitler, di 
por supuesto cínicamente que ese hombre de la calle, sea cual sea su país 
de origen, no había leído ni una sola página del libro de Cervantes. 
Confieso contritamente mi error y me arrepiento de mi cinismo.

Cordiales saludos,

Anthony Close


On Sep 5 2009, Lauer, A Robert wrote:

>Estimados cervantistas,
>
> Desde hace unos años me informo de lo que pasa en el mundo por medio de 
> dos medios: uno el blog del historiador Juan Cole, de la Universidad de 
> Michigán (mi alma mater) < http://www.juancole.com/ > ; otro la versión 
> electrónica del periódico británico Guardian Unlimited < 
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/ >. Acabo de leer en el primero que en el 
> Centro de Detención de la Bahía de Guantánamo (Guantánamo Bay Detention 
> Camp), el segundo libro más pedido por los detenidos es Don Quijote. El 
> Prof. Cole hace algunas alusiones históricas al respecto. Es un detalle 
> curioso sobre un aspecto de recepción literaria respecto a la gran obra 
> cervantina.
>
>Saludos cordiales de
>
>Robert
>Informed Comment
>
> Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and 
> Religion<http://www.juancole.com/>
>
>Juan Cole is President of the Global Americana Institute
>
> Saturday, September 05, 2009 Guantanamo Reading List: Harry Potter, Don 
> Quixote, and Obama's Dreams from my Father
>
> Journalist Besan Sheikh recently visited the Guantanamo Bay prison 
> facility run by the US, where al-Qaeda and other prisoners from Bush's 
> 'war on terror' are held. (Many of the prisoners appear to have been sold 
> by the Taliban or swept up indiscriminately in the vicinity of a 
> battlefield). Sheikh told the pan-Arab London daily, al-Hayat [Life], 
> that the facility's library now has 13,500 
> books<http://www.daralhayat.com/internationalarticle/52937>.
>
> What are the three most requested titles by the remaining 229 
> prisoners<http://www.daralhayat.com/internationalarticle/52937>?
>
>1. The Harry Potter novels
>
>2. Cervantes' Don Quixote
>
>3. Barack obama's Dreams from my Father.
>
> No reason was given for these choices, which are followed in popularity 
> by Muslim religious volumes.
>
> Do they think Guantanamo is a little like Hogwarts Academy and that their 
> torturers were Lord Voldemort?
>
> Do they know that Miguel Cervantes fought at the second Battle of Lepanto 
> in 1571<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_%281571%29> in 
> which the Holy League defeated the Ottoman empire at sea, and that later 
> on his ship was captured by the Algerians and he spent 5 years imprisoned 
> and enslaved in Algiers before being ransomed-- thus reversing an element 
> in their own biographies?
>
> They are said to be fascinated that the new president of the United 
> States has African and Muslim roots.
>
> Although the prisoners receive newspapers, all violent incidents are torn 
> out of them, so they know nothing of the Huthi revolt in Yemen, e.g.
>
>I'm still thinking about the idea of John Yoo as Voldemort.
>
> End/ (Not Continued) For "cont'd" postings, click 
> here.<http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/guantanamo-reading-list-harry-potter.html>
>
> posted by Juan Cole @ 9/05/2009 01:13:00 
> AM<http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/guantanamo-reading-list-harry-potter.html> 
> 0 
> comments<http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/guantanamo-reading-list-harry-potter.html#comments>
> |
>
>
>
> Prof. A. Robert Lauer The University of Oklahoma Department of Modern 
> Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics 780 Van Vleet Oval, Kaufman Hall, 
> Room 206 Norman, Oklahoma 73019-2032, USA Tel.: 405-325-5845 (office); 
> 405-325-6181 (dept.); Fax: 405-325-0103 (dept.) Vision: Harmonious 
> collaboration in an international world. Mission: "Visualize clearly and 
> communicate promptly" 
> VITA<http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/A-Robert.R.Lauer-1/vita.html> / 
> IBÉRICA<http://www.peterlang.com/Index.cfm?vSiteName=SearchSeriesResult.cfm&vLang=E&iHerausgeber=Lauer&iTitel=&iStichwort=&iISSN=&vSeriesID=IBERICA> 
> / BCom<http://www.comediantes.org/> / 
> Coloquio<http://www.ou.edu/cervantes/coloquiocervantes.html> 
> Cervantes<http://www.ou.edu/cervantes/coloquiocervantes.html> / 
> Coloquio<http://www.ou.edu/teatro/coloquioteatro.html> Teatro de los 
> Siglos de Oro<http://www.ou.edu/teatro/coloquioteatro.html> /