Miguel de Cervantes, Homer, and Science Fiction: A Literary Analysis
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish soldier, novelist, poet, and playwright. He was supposedly born on September 29, 1547, in Alcalá de Henares and died on April 22, 1616, in Madrid, though he was buried on April 23, which is popularly known as the date of his death. He is considered the greatest figure of Spanish literature. He is universally known, especially for writing The Ingenious Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, which many critics have described as the first modern novel and one of the best works of world literature. He was given the nickname “Prince of Wits.”
Characteristics of Chivalry Novels
- The main character is a noble gentleman.
- He is a model of youth, form, and physical strength.
- Born predestined to succeed.
- They are novels of fantasy and imagination.
- They feature themes of love and adventure, where the gentleman is a lover.
- The locations are exotic and in distant times.
- The hero performs extraordinary acts.
- They are structured in episodes (novels), and the theme of the journey is present, where the protagonist always travels and seeks adventure, glory, and love.
- Key work: Amadis of Gaul.
- Cervantes wrote some 60 works of chivalry, with Amadis of Gaul being the most significant.
Homer
According to legend, Homer wrote the two grandest epics of Greek history: The Iliad (the story of the Trojan War) and The Odyssey (about the travels of Odysseus). Both books are considered landmarks in literature, and Homer is often cited as a starting point in the Western literary and historical tradition. Details about Homer’s life are a mystery; some scholars believe that this man never existed and that the works attributed to him were actually related and collected by many people over the centuries.
Characteristics of Greek Epic Poetry
- They may include either real or invented facts indiscriminately.
- The narration is done in the past tense.
- The narrator may appear in the play or not, but is always present, as in lyric poetry, or may not disappear entirely, as in drama.
- The form preferably used in a literary work is the epic or narrative verse or long prose (hexameter, Alexandrine…).
- It tends to include other genres (lyric, dramatic, didactic), which is why it is often the greatest in extent.
- It may have divisions in its external structure, such as chapters or sections.
- It has the following variants or sub-genres: epic, epic poem, religious epic poem, romance, folktale, myth, legend, story, and novel. Each, in turn, has different types or classes of texts, especially the myth, folktale, and the novel.
- It may be of two forms: direct and indirect.
Science Fiction
Science fiction is the popular name for one of the genres of fiction literature (along with fantasy and horror fiction). Originally created as a literary subgenre with distinction in the 1920s (although there are recognizable works much earlier) and later exported to other media such as film, comics, and television, it enjoyed a boom in the second half of the twentieth century due to popular interest about the future that was awakened by the spectacular scientific and technological progress achieved during those years.
Characteristics of Science Fiction
- Impossible engineering.
- Time travel.
- Futures, usually focusing on science or social development.
- Possible inventions or scientific and technical discoveries.
- Contact with aliens and their consequences.
- Comparison of the human being with robots, aliens, and other superintelligent beings.