Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes is best-known for his epic satire masterpiece, the ingenious gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, simply known as Don Quixote.
Early Life of Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes was born on September 29, 1547, birth name of Alcalá de Henares. He lived an unsettled life of adventure and hardship.
He was born near Madrid, Spain, into an aristocratic but poor family and spent much of his childhood moving from one town to another while his doctor father sought work. Years spent in study with a famous humanist scholar gave him a passion for learning and tolerance.
Cervantes Military Life
In his early 20s, Cervantes became a soldier. At 24, he joined the Spanish Armada and fought at the Battle of Lapanto, one of the greatest sea battles in history. His left hand was maimed and he never regained its full use.
When he was 28, Cervantes was captured and enslaved by North African pirates for five years. Eventually, his family was able to raise money for his return home, only to be imprisoned for fraud.
Cervantes Literary Pursuits
Returning to Spain, Cervantes found his family in poverty. He had several temporary jobs and turned to writing as a way of earning money. Among his works in this period were a pastoral novel, poetry and several plays. However, they were overshadowed by his contemporaries.
Don Quixote de la Mancha
During a period of particularly bad luck Cervantes found himself in jail for fraud. It was this time and moments he had the idea for his masterpiece, Don Quixote. Like his hero, Cervantes was much stricken by fate. Don Quixote is a story of a man who reads numerous books about chivalry, becomes mad, and tries to restore old-fashioned heroism.
The first volume of Don Quixote was published when Cervantes was 58, and it was an immediate success. It follows the adventures of a slightly insane Spanish nobleman and his loyal servant. Quixote sees himself as a knight in shining armour and sets out to right the wrongs of the world. Scholars describe Don Quixote as one of the world's first novels.
At the age of 68, Miguel de Cervantes died on April 23, 1616, the same day and year as William Shakespeare. According to World Book and Copyright Day - April 23, 2006, UNESCO set April 23, 1616 as International Day of the Book.
Miguel de Cervantes Books
- La Galatea: A Pastoral Romance, 1585
- Comedy of Confusion, c.1586
- Don Quixote, 1605-1615
- Exemplary Novels, 1613
- Eight New Plays and Eight New Interludes, 1615
- The Exploits of Persiles and Sigismunda, 1617 (published after he died)
Readers may want to check out other famous Spanish poets Juan Ramon Jimenez, Camilo José Cela, and Federico Garcia Lorca.
Sources:
- Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers / Harrap Publishers, 2002.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
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