The dedications and thanks They usually appear at the beginning of books and theses relatively extensively, but they can also appear only as a few words at the beginning of a poem or story.
- A dedication It is the way in which a work is directed to one or more people. It can be part of the printed book or added by the author along with his autograph in handwritten form.
- The thanks They are usually more common in books or texts that require research, in which the authors received help and support from certain people and institutions.
Although they are especially frequent in the literary field, there are dedications on many discs and audiovisual productions. Almost all albums include acknowledgments. A famous example of a musical dedication is the play For Elisaby Beethoven.
Examples of dedications and acknowledgments
- I thank Dr. Schwartz for his guidance and help during this research, Professors Juan Almeida and Sonia Sánchez for their invaluable collaboration, and my wife, Sara, for her patience and companionship.
- “Dedication to the Count of Lemos
Sending to Your Excellency last days my comedies, printed rather than performed, although I remember, I said that Don Quixote kept his spurs up to go and kiss Your Excellency’s hands; And now I say that he has put them on and has set out on the road, and if he arrives there, it seems to me that I will have done some service to Your Excellency, because there is a lot of rush that from infinite parts they give me to send him to remove the hamago and the nausea caused by another Don Quixote, who, under the name of Part Two, has disguised himself and run through the world; And the one who has shown that he wishes him the most has been the great emperor of China, because in Chinese language there will be a month that he wrote me a letter with his own, asking me, or, better to say, begging me to send him, because he wanted to found a school where the Castilian language was read, and he wanted the book to be read to be that of the history of Don Quixote. Along with this, he told me that I should go to be the rector of that school ”. Miguel de Cervantes in the second part of “Don Quijote de La Mancha”
- “To Tabby, who got me into this and then helped me out.” Stephen King to his wife Tabitha.
- “For Stephanie and Jim Leonard. They know why. They do know. ” Stephen King.
- “This book is for my brother David, who used to take me by the hand to cross West Broad Street and who taught me how to make jumpers out of old coat racks. The method was so great that I never gave up on it. I love you, David. ” Stephen King
- “To Enrique Jardiel Poncel, my greatest enemy, with the support, sympathy and affection of Enrique Jardiel Poncela.” Dedication of the author to himself, in the book But were there ever eleven thousand virgins?
- “Like all acts in the universe, the dedication of a book is a magical act. It could also be defined as the most pleasant and sensitive way of pronouncing a name. I now pronounce her name, Maria Kodama. How many mornings, how many seas, how many gardens of the East and the West, how many Virgil. ” Jorge Luis Borges, in his book The amount.
- “I dedicate this book to my enemies, who have helped me so much in my career.” Camilo José Cela, in his novel Pascual Duarte’s family.
- “To my wife Marganit and my children Ella Rose and Daniel Adam, without whom this book would have been completed two years earlier.” Dedication of Joseph J. Rotman in his book An introduction to algebraic topology.
- “To Carrie White, who did not survive high school. Those who did. ” Laura Fernández in her book The zombie girl. Carrie White is the protagonist of Stephen King’s novel “Carrie”, which has later been made into a movie.
- “I apologize to the children for having dedicated this book to an older person. I have a serious excuse: this older person is the best friend I have in the world. But I have another excuse: this older person is capable of understanding everything, even children’s books. I still have a third excuse: this elderly person lives in France, where he is hungry and cold. It has, therefore, a great need to be comforted. If all these reasons weren’t enough, then I want to dedicate this book to the boy who was this older person long ago. All seniors have been children before. (But few of them remember it). I correct, therefore, my dedication: TO LEÓN WERTH as a child. Antoine de Sanit-Exupéry in his work The little Prince.
- “You know how this works. You pick up a book, look at the dedication, and discover that, once again, the author has dedicated his book to someone other than you. It won’t be like that this time. Because we haven’t met yet / we haven’t had a chance to take a look / we’re not crazy about each other / it’s not like we haven’t seen each other in a long time / or that we’re related in any way / maybe we’ll never see each other , but, I trust that, despite all this, we think a lot about each other … This is for you. With what you already know and probably already know why. ” Neil Gaiman in his book The Anansi Boys.
- “To Dorotea Muhr, ignored dog of bliss.” Juan Carlos Onetti, in The face of misfortune.
- “For Álvaro Mutis, who gave me the idea of writing this book”, this dedication, like others, is at the same time a thank you. It is by Gabriel García Márquez, in his book The general in his labyrinth.
- “For Elvira, who wanted so much to read this book.” Antonio Muñoz Molina, in his book Full moon.
History of dedications
Dedications as old as the Roman classics are known (in publications of ancient Rome).
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the dedications were in turn a form of gratitude since the publications were dedicated to the benefactors or patrons of the author.
Between the 16th and 17th centuries, dedications were a way of requesting financial support and it was such a common practice that dedications to a single book could exceed ten.
Since that time there are also dedications without profit intention, such as dedications to Christ or the saints.