Miguel de Cervantes: Life, Works, and Literary Impact
Miguel de Cervantes: A Literary Overview
2.1. Life of Cervantes: Born in 1547 in Alcala de Henares, into a family with possible Jewish origins. His life was marked by significant events:
- 1570: Traveled to Italy.
- Involved in the Battle of Lepanto.
- 1575: Captured and taken to Algiers.
- Rescued and returned to Spain, later writing La Galatea (1585).
- Faced financial difficulties, leading him to write plays.
- Experienced excommunication and imprisonment. During his final imprisonment in Seville, he began writing Don Quixote, which became a major success.
- Moved to Valladolid, where he was part of the court, and was arrested again.
- Spent his last years in Madrid, facing family and financial challenges.
- Published most of his works in his later years.
- Died in Madrid on April 23, 1616.
2.2. Cervantes as a Poet
Many of Cervantes’ poems were lost due to his need to write prolifically. He published a verse play, The Journey to Parnassus (1614), which explores the conflict between good and bad writers. As a poet, Cervantes was influenced by classical and Italian traditions.
2.3. Cervantes as a Playwright
Cervantes wrote numerous plays, including over ten full-length plays and eight short plays. His plays covered varied themes and adhered to the classical rules of verisimilitude while incorporating contemporary elements, sometimes using parody. Notable plays include The Baths of Algiers and his only tragedy, La Numancia. His short plays, or entremeses, are particularly interesting, elevating the basic character of the silly farce, such as in The Altarpiece of the Wonders.
2.4. Cervantes as a Novelist
Cervantes was a key figure in the renewal of literary genres, experimenting with various narrative formulas of the 16th century.
- La Galatea: A pastoral novel.
- Don Quixote: A parody of chivalric romances.
- Exemplary Novels: Inspired by the Italian novella, incorporating pastoral and Byzantine elements.
His work explores the fundamental relationships between life and literature. La Galatea (1585) focuses on love among shepherds, typical of pastoral books. His last work, Persiles (1617, posthumous), follows the Byzantine narrative model, featuring adventure, love, and pilgrimage, aiming for verisimilitude.
Exemplary Novels consists of 12 short stories, composed in the Italian style with original arguments. These stories connect to the medieval exempla genre, separating the ethical from the aesthetic, making them models of literary creation. They can be divided into two groups:
- Realistic characters: Rinconete y Cortadillo, The Licentiate, The Dialogue of the Dogs.
- Idealistic characters: The English-Spanish, The Force of Blood.
- Combining features of both groups: The Gypsy and The Illustrious Kitchen Maid.
2.4.1. Don Quixote
2.4.1.1. Genesis of Don Quixote
Don Quixote is considered Cervantes’ masterpiece. It is divided into two parts:
- Part 1: Published in 1605.
- Part 2: Published in 1615.
The two parts differ in style. The first part is more spontaneous, while the second is more deliberate. Both parts share a structural parallelism:
- Introductory opening chapters.
- Adventures that are interrupted.
- A midpoint where the protagonist’s wandering stops:
- First part: At the inn.
- Second part: At the home of the Dukes.
- A symmetrical ending, with Don Quixote disillusioned and defeated at home.
In the second part, Cervantes responds to the publication of Don Quixote de Avellaneda (1614), an apocryphal continuation of his work signed by Fernandez de Avellaneda.
2.4.1.2. Characters in Don Quixote
- Don Quixote: A modest gentleman, Alonso Quijano, from La Mancha, who becomes mad from reading books of chivalry and decides to become a knight-errant. He is a funny but complex character, showing good sense and wise opinions outside of his madness. He is a defender of his ideas, often battered by reality.
- Sancho Panza: Don Quixote’s squire. He embodies folk, literary, and satirical types: the fool, the simpleton, the rustic, the rogue, and the servant. His character becomes more complex as he satirizes the romances of chivalry.