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I. Introduction
Cervantes Saavedra,
Miguel de (1547-1616), Spanish writer, considered by many
to be the greatest Spanish author, whose novel Don Quixote
(Part I, 1605; Part II, 1615) is regarded as one of the masterpieces
of world literature. Because of his eloquent style and remarkable
insight, Cervantes has achieved acclaim comparable to that
given to such literary greats as Greek poet Homer,
Italian poet Dante
Alighieri, and English playwright William
Shakespeare.
II. Life
Cervantes was born
in Alcalá de Henares. In 1568, when he was a student, a number
of his poems appeared in a volume published in Madrid, Spain,
to commemorate the death of the Spanish queen Elizabeth of
Valois. In 1569 Cervantes went to Rome, where in the following
year he began working for Giulio Cardinal Acquaviva. Soon
afterward Cervantes joined a Spanish military regiment in
Naples, Italy. He fought in 1571 against the Turks in the
Battle
of Lepanto, in which he lost the use of his left hand.
While returning to Spain in 1575, Cervantes was captured by
Barbary pirates. He was taken to Algeria as a slave and held
there for ransom. During the next five years he made several
heroic but unsuccessful attempts to escape before he was finally
ransomed in 1580 by his family and friends.
Returning to Spain at the age
of 33, Cervantes, despite his wartime service and misfortunes
in Algeria, was unable to obtain employment with a noble family,
the usual reward for veterans who had distinguished themselves.
Deciding to become a writer, he produced poems and plays at
a prodigious rate between 1582 and 1585, but few of these
works have survived. His pastoral novel La Galatea
(1585) gained him a reputation, but the proceeds from its
sale were insufficient to support him. Cervantes then took
government jobs, first furnishing goods to the fleet of the
Spanish
Armada and later collecting taxes. The government imprisoned
him several times because he failed to give a satisfactory
explanation of his tax-collecting activities.
Probably during his time in prison
Cervantes conceived the idea for a story about a man who imagines
himself a knight-errant (a knight who seeks out adventure)
performing the splendid feats described in medieval tales
of chivalry.
In 1605 the first part of his tale was issued under the title
El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha (The
Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha). It became such
an immediate success that within two weeks after publication
three unauthorized editions appeared in Madrid. Partly because
of these unauthorized editions and partly because of his lack
of financial management skills, Cervantes never gained substantial
wealth from the enormous success of the work. Don Quixote
was first translated into English in 1612.
Cervantes's Novelas ejemplares
(Exemplary Novels, 1613), a collection of 12 short stories,
includes romances in the Italian style; descriptions of criminal
life in Seville, Spain; and sketches of unusual events and
characters. One of these stories, “El coloquio de los perros”
(The Talking Dogs), is particularly renowned for its satirical
prose style. The second part of Don Quixote was published
in 1615 and translated into English in 1620. In 1616 Cervantes
completed the allegorical novel Persiles y Sigismunda
(1617), four days before his death. The book was published
the next year.
III. Don Quixote
Don Quixote,
Cervantes's most important work, describes the adventures
of an idealistic Spanish nobleman who, as a result of reading
many tales of chivalry, comes to believe that he is a knight
who must combat the world's injustices. He travels with his
squire, Sancho Panza, an uneducated but practical peasant.
Don Quixote's mount is an old, bedraggled horse named Rocinante.
Don Quixote travels in search of adventure, dedicating his
actions of valor to a simple country girl whom he calls Dulcinea,
seeing her as his lady. He sets himself the task of defending
orphans, protecting maidens and widows, befriending the helpless,
and serving the causes of truth and beauty. His imagination
often runs away with him, so that he sees windmills as giants,
flocks of sheep as enemy armies, and country inns as castles.
Don Quixote's romantic view of the world, however, is often
balanced by Sancho Panza's more realistic outlook.
Don Quixote was originally
intended as a satire on medieval tales of chivalry. The completed
work, however, presents a rich picture of Spanish life and
contains many philosophical insights. Don Quixote's quest
has been seen as an allegory of the eternal human quest for
goodness and truth in the face of insurmountable obstacles.
His idealism seems to be madness in a world that sometimes
views heroism and love as forms of insanity, and this has
led many readers to consider Don Quixote a tragedy
despite its satirical style and many comical episodes.
Don Quixote has had a tremendous
influence on the development of prose fiction. It has been
translated into all modern languages and has appeared in several
hundred editions. It has also been the subject of a variety
of works in other fields of art, including operas by Italian
composer Giovanni
Paisiello and French composer Jules
Massenet; a symphonic
poem (a musical piece meant to evoke images of other artistic,
but nonmusical, pieces) by German composer Richard
Strauss; motion pictures by German director G. W. Pabst
and Russian director Grigori Kozintzev; a ballet by American
choreographer George
Balanchine; and a musical, Man of La Mancha (1965),
with music by American Mitch Leigh. The theme also inspired
works by 19th-century French artists Honoré
Daumier and Gustave
Doré.
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