Conundrum: Death of the Author
One of my favorite pieces of trivia is that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day. What’s truly remarkable about this is that it happened on July 4, 1826, which was the 50th anniversary of the famous signing of the Declaration of Independence. John Adams’s last words are reported to be “Thomas Jefferson survives” – he did not know that his long-time friend and rival had died a few hours earlier. For us, then, knowing that Jefferson died first is an essential part of the story of these great founding fathers.
But what of the founding fathers of Western literature? Recently, we celebrated April 23 as Shakespeare’s birthday, but we also know it as his death day. Shakespeare died in Stratford on April 23, 1616. We do not know the time of his death, or his last words.
Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, might likewise be considered one of the founding fathers of Western literature. Cervantes died in Madrid on April 23, 1616. We do not know the time of his death, or his last words.
And yet, it is possible to say, with some degree of certainty, which of the two authors perished first. And that, dear readers, is today’s Conundrum.
Who died first: Shakespeare or Cervantes? How do you know?
Feel free to speculate as to last words too, if that sort of thing amuses you.
UPDATE: Question answered by Neel Mehta. See comments for answer.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Wikipedia has something to say about this:
Cervantes died in Madrid on April 23, 1616; coincidentally William Shakespeare also died on that date, but not on the same day; Britain was still using the Julian calendar, whereas Spain had already adopted the Gregorian calendar. In honour of this coincidence UNESCO established April 23 as the International Day of the Book. It is worth mentioning that the Encyclopedia Hispanica claims the date widely quoted as Cervantes’ date of death, namely April 23, is the date on his tombstone which in accordance of the traditions at the time would be his date of burial rather than date of death. If this is true, according to Hispanica, then it means that Cervantes probably died on April 22 and was buried on April 23.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
Oh, and you better believe the speculation of last words amuses me.
Cervantes: “Dulcinea era un tranny. Deseé llamar su Lola.”
Shakespeare: “I just had an idea for a new tragedy… there would be snakes… on a plane…”
April 30th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Nice catch, Neel. Wikipedia knows everything!
When Pope Gregory XIII issued the order to switch to the new calendar in 1582, Spain (a Catholic nation) complied immediately, and skipped ahead ten days in their calendar. England (a Protestant nation) ignored the papal edict. It eventually would adopt the Gregorian calendar, but not until 1752.
So the answer is that Cervantes died first. Shakespeare died ten days later.
(Or eleven, if Cervantes really died on the 22nd.)