Cervantes Biography

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

The grandmaster of Spanish literature and the father of the modern novel. Cervantes is believed to have been born in 1547 in the town of Alcalá de Hénares. His life itself reads like an adventure novel. Cervantes became a soldier in Italy in 1570 and fought in the Battle of Lepanto (1571). He was injured in this battle and lost the use of his left hand. While attempting to sail back to Spain in 1575, Cervantes was taken prisoner by Greek pirates and taken to Algiers. Miguel attempted to escape unsuccessfully three times, before he was finally ransomed.

After returning to Spain, he struggled to make a living writing and was unhappily married to Catalina de Salazar y Palacios. Cervantes was jailed at least two times for debt and falsifying bookkeeping records. He did not achieve success until later in life. In fact his most productive and successful period was from around 1606 until his death in 1616.

Don Quixote was released in two "installments" beginning in 1605. It met with immediate success and secured his position as the writer of one of the greatest novels in history. Don Quixote is a voluminous work which satirized the romantic notions of this period, chivalric novels, as well as Spanish society. It effectively blends humor, adventure and romance with an exploration of idealism versus realism. Its primary characters (Don Quixote and Sancho Panza) have achieved immortality and the novel has served as inspiration for many subsequent works of art, including musicals, plays and painting.

Cervantes wrote his Novelas Ejemplares (Exemplary Stories,1613) concurrently with Don Quixote and this is the only other work which I have been able to find translated into English. They are a delightful collection of novellas primarily in the style of the picaresque novel. His first novel was entitled La Galatea (1585), but it was not well received. Although Cervantes is primarily associated with the novel, he also produced several collections of poetry and several plays. Several of these can be found in various collections of Spanish prose and drama.