Author
Don Quixote |
Little is known about the
life of Miguel de
Cervantes, the author of
the classic Don
Quixote. The exact date
of his birth is unrecorded,
but it is known that he was
born in the small town of
Alcala de Henares near
Madrid and christened in the
church of Santa Maria on
October 9, 1547. He was
the second son and fourth of
seven children of Rodrigo de
Cervantes and Leonor de
Cortinas. His father led a
precarious and unsettled life
as a an apothecary-surgeon
and came from an old family
of Northern Spain, now
encumbered by poverty and
debt. Cervantes learned to
lead the life of a penniless
gentleman at a very early
age.
Somewhere as a child,
Cervantes saw the famous
actor-manager and
dramatist Lope de Rueda
(of whom he writes in the
preface to his plays) and who
possibly ignited his passion
for the theatre. Basically
there are few facts known
about his first twenty-one
years. He may have had
some schooling in Valladolid
and again with the Jesuits in
Seville. No specific date is
known, except that of
1568-69, placing him as a
student in the City School of
Madrid. It is possible that he
left his studies for a period of
service with the army in
Flanders. In 1569 he wrote
home requesting a certificate
of legitimacy in order to
enter His Majesty's Armed
Forces. And it is thought
that at this time he was
serving as chamberlain to
Cardinal
Acquaviva
Enlisted in the Spanish
legion and stationed in Italy,
Cervantes participated in the
naval battle of Lepanto
(October 7, 1571). This
battle was a high point of his
military career -- though ill
with fever he fought and
suffered three gun shot
wounds, one which
permanently maimed his left
hand. By April, 1572 he
recovered and participated in
the naval engagement off
Navarino (October 7,
1572); the capture of Tunis
on October 10, 1573); and
in the unsuccessful
expedition to the relief of La
Goletta in the Fall of 1574;
with periods of garrison duty
at Palermo and
Naples.
In September, 1575 he and
his brother, Rodrigo, who
was also serving on the
peninsula, left for Spain and
were captured on the way by
Algerian pirates(reflected in
the captive's tale in Part I of
Don Quixote). A
year later he tried to escape,
but he was recaptured. Early
in 1577 the priests of the
Order of Mercy arrived with
300 crowns sent by his
parents. The sum was
insufficient to free
Cervantes, but adequate to
ransom his brother. One
more failed escape attempt
precipitated the Viceroy of
Algiers, Hasan, into buying
him as a slave. His family
continued its efforts: his
father presented a petition to
the King and his mother
raised money. Finally, after
several more attempts at
escape, Cervantes' ransom
was accepted and he was
granted his freedom in 1580.
He returned to
Madrid.
He was now 34 years old and
it was about this time when he
was unable to find official
employment, that he began
writing plays. It is thought that
he wrote between 20-30 plays
during the 80's, but only two
manuscripts have survived:
El Trato de Argel and
La Numancia, which
were found in
1784.
His literary efforts were not
devoted solely to the theatre.
In 1584 the writer obtained a
license to print a pastoral novel
(then at the height of its
popularity). The result was
La Galatea, which was
published in Alcala de Henares
in 1585 and twice reprinted
during his lifetime. (The novel
remained his favorite and for
30 years he kept promising to
write a
sequel).
As Cervantes was struggling in
his literary efforts, he married
Catalina de Palacios Salazar y
Vozmediano of Esquivias, a
girl 18 years his junior, who
brought him little dowry.
Although he and his wife had
no children, two years earlier
Cervantes fathered an
illegitimate daughter, Isabel.
After his father's death in
1585, Cervantes'
responsibilities grew -- he now
had to support two sisters, a
niece and a
maidservant.
Necessity forced him to seek
employment and in 1588 he
was appointed deputy
purveyor to the fleet,
responsible for requisitioning
supplies for the Invincible
Armada. While his new
position did give him a
familiarity with the colorful
growth and folklore of that
province (described in Don
Quixote), he was
temporarily excommunicated
for confiscating supplies which
belonged to the dean of the
cathedral of Seville. And later,
with shortages in his accounts,
he was imprisoned at least twice
(1592 and 1597). This
experience accounts for the
legend that the first part of
Don Quixote was
written in
prison.
This was a period of misfortune
for Cervantes. In May,1590, he
applied to the King for an
overseas appointment, but was
told to look for something
closer to home. His luck was
not much better in literature. In
1595 he won a first prize (three
silver spoons) in a poetry
contest at Saragossa, and three
years later his sonnet, "At the
Bier of King Philip II in Seville,"
attracted some attention, but
the rest of his poems went
unpublished and he moved
frequently from one city to
another.
He was in his 50's when he
wrote Don Quixote,
which is considered the first
modern novel. License to print
was granted on September 26
and in January, 1605 Part One
was put on sale by the Madrid
bookseller Francisco de Robles.
The book had an immediate
success. Within a few weeks of
publication, three pirated
editions were issued in Lisbon. A
second authorized edition (with
minor revisions) was brought out
in Madrid with rights extending
to Aragon and Portugal and two
other reprints appeared in
Valencia in the same year. The
book was reissued in Brussels
(1607 and 1611), Madrid
(1608) and Milan (1610).
Thomas Shelton's English
version of 1612 was the earliest
translation.
Although Cervantes became
famous overnight, his financial
difficulties continued. In 1605, he
became involved in an
investigation of a stabbing and he
and his family were imprisoned
for at least a week. Some sources
claim that the writer may have
gone into hiding because of that
incident, because his whereabouts
for the next three years are
unknown.
From 1609 until his death in
1616, Cervantes lived in Madrid.
In 1609 he was invited to join the
newly founded fraternity of Slaves
of the Most Blessed Sacrament
and about the same time his wife
took the habit of the Third Order
of St. Francis. And in 1612 the
author joined another new literary
club -- Academia
Selvaje.
These years in Madrid comprised
his third major period of literary
activity, which resulted in his
12 Exemplary Novels
(1613) the burlesque poem
Viaie del Parnaso and the
prose postscript Adiunta al
Parnaso
(1614). It was in the same year
that the "sequel" to Don
Quixote written by Alonso
Fernandez de Avellaneda of
Tordesillas was published, which
induced Cervantes to complete
his own Part Two (1615).
As with Part One, his sequel was
reprinted quickly in Brussels and
Valencia (1616) and in Lisbon
(1617) with a first translation into
French in 1618. Both parts
appeared together from 1617
on.
Eight Comedies and Eight
Interludes was brought out in
1615 and The Persiles and
Sigismunda was published
posthumously in
1617.
Toward the end of his life
Cervantes joined the Tertiary
Order of St. Francis and it was the
Franciscans who carried him to his
grave, located, according to
several sources, in the Trinitarian
convent in the Calle de
Cantarranas. Cervantes died of
dropsey on April 23,
1616.
Sources: Researched and compiled by Fran Michelman. |
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