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Born in Alcalá de Henares in central Spain in 1547, Miguel de Cervantes, the Spanish novelist, playwright and poet would later cement himself a place in literary history. His celebrated work, “Don Quixote de la Mancha” is regarded as one of the greatest works in literature, and nearly 400 years later is still revered and referred to by critics, writers and readers alike. Contrary to popular conceptions, Cervantes was fairly prolific in his writing and we’ll cite some of his other major works and sketch out the life of the man who, many claim, wrote the western world’s first novel.
Little is known of Cervantes’ early life; it is thought that he spent a lot of time on the road with his father as he looked for work. The celebrated authors’ education began in 1568 in Madrid where he studied for two years, he then moved to Rome to continue his studies and here he acquainted himself with Italian literature, an influence that would emerge in Cervantes’ literary works in later years.
In 1570 Cervantes resolved to serve his country and enlisted as a soldier. He served aboard a vessel in the battle of Lepanto the following year and received a nasty musket shot to his left hand; the injury was so severe as to permanently impede the use of the hand and Cervantes was to be maimed for life. When the wound had healed Cervantes and his brother departed for another campaign in North Africa against the Moslems. Cervantes’ luck in battle was not to improve though as his ship was captured by the Turks. The ship and its crew were then taken to Algiers where they were sold off as slaves. Five years of hardship had elapsed by the time that Cervantes’ family had raised enough money to pay his ransom; he finally set foot back on Spanish soil in 1580.
During the years of 1580 to 1600 Cervantes was to lead a fairly nomadic existence, working as a tax collector amongst other things. He was declared bankrupt during the period and it’s also known that he spent at least two stints in jail on account of financial irregularities. It is claimed that the idea for “Don Quixote” came to Cervantes during one of these internments in La Mancha , the author himself testifying to this in the prologue of the great work.
Despite producing a prolific amount of work during this period Cervantes’ work was met with limited success in the early years. His first real breakthrough came with the publication of “La Galetea”, at this time some of Cervantes’ plays were also gracing the stages of Madrid . Unfortunately most of these works have been lost to history with the exception of “El Trato del Argel” (a work that draws heavily on his time spent as a slave in North Africa ) and “ El Cero de Numancia”.
Cervantes wasn’t to discover fame and fortune of any kind until 1605 when he published part one of “Don Quixote”, even then the books success didn’t earn him the massive wealth you would expect – this could have been due in part due to a number of unauthorised copies of the book that were circulating and also down to Cervantes’ own poor management of his finances. It is thought that the immense popularity of part one of “Don Quixote” led Cervantes to pen the second part which he delivered to an expectant public ten years later in 1615.
Just one year later in April of 1616, Cervantes passed away, incidentally the same day as the death of William Shakespeare. The last 400 years has seen Cervantes stock grow, nowadays he is known as one of the fathers of the modern novel and “Don Quixote” has inspired many writers, directors and composers to try and capture the essence of his great work, described by Dostoyevsky as the “ultimate and most sublime work of human thinking”. |
