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by. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Golden Deer Classics, Sun Tzu, Teresa de Ávila. 4.15 avg rating — 204 ratings — 6 editions. Want to Read.
Writers: Their Lives and Works. (2018) Description / Buy at Amazon. Miguel de Cervantes was a Spanish novelist, playwright, and poet that is best known for his novel “Don Quixote.”. The author was born in Alcala de Henares in 1547 and spent much of his childhood in a small town just outside the Spanish capital of Madrid.
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- Soldier and slave
Miguel de Cervantes is the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature. He is best known for being the author of Don Quixote (1605, 1615), a widely read literary classic. He also was noted for his short story collection Novelas exemplares (1613; Exemplary Stories) and several plays and poems.
What was Miguel de Cervantes’s early life like?
Miguel de Cervantes was the fourth of seven children in a family that originated in the minor gentry but had come down in the world. His father was a barber-surgeon who set bones, performed bloodlettings, and attended lesser medical needs. The family moved from town to town and may have been converso (of Jewish descent).
What did Miguel de Cervantes do for a living?
Miguel de Cervantes never made much money from his writing in his lifetime. As a young man, he was a soldier and was later held captive as a slave. After that he served as a royal messenger, a commissary of provisions for the Spanish Armada, and a tax collector.
Miguel de Cervantes (born September 29?, 1547, Alcalá de Henares, Spain—died April 22, 1616, Madrid) Spanish novelist, playwright, and poet, the creator of Don Quixote (1605, 1615) and the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature. His novel Don Quixote has been translated, in full or in part, into more than 60 languages. Editions continue regularly to be printed, and critical discussion of the work has proceeded unabated since the 18th century. At the same time, owing to their widespread representation in art, drama, and film, the figures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are probably familiar visually to more people than any other imaginary characters in world literature. Cervantes was a great experimenter. He tried his hand in all the major literary genres save the epic. He was a notable short-story writer, and a few of those in his collection of Novelas exemplares (1613; Exemplary Stories) attain a level close to that of Don Quixote, on a miniature scale.
That same year he left Spain for Italy. Whether this was because he was the “student” of the same name wanted by the law for involvement in a wounding incident is another mystery; the evidence is contradictory. In any event, in going to Italy Cervantes was doing what many young Spaniards of the time did to further their careers in one way or another. It seems that for a time he served as chamberlain in the household of Cardinal Giulio Acquaviva in Rome. However, by 1570 he had enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish infantry regiment stationed in Naples, then a possession of the Spanish crown. He was there for about a year before he saw active service.
Relations with the Ottoman Empire under Selim II were reaching a crisis, and the Turks occupied Cyprus in 1570. A confrontation between the Turkish fleet and the naval forces of Venice, the papacy, and Spain was inevitable. In mid-September 1571 Cervantes sailed on board the Marquesa, part of the large fleet under the command of Don Juan de Austria that engaged the enemy on October 7 in the Gulf of Lepanto near Corinth. The fierce battle ended in a crushing defeat for the Turks that was ultimately to break their control of the Mediterranean. There are independent accounts of Cervantes’s conduct in the action, and they concur in testifying to his personal courage. Though stricken with a fever, he refused to stay below and joined the thick of the fighting. He received two gunshot wounds in the chest, and a third rendered his left hand useless for the rest of his life. He always looked back on his conduct in the battle with pride. From 1572 to 1575, based mainly in Naples, he continued his soldier’s life; he was at Navarino and saw action in Tunis and La Goleta. He must also, when opportunity offered, have been familiarizing himself with Italian literature. Perhaps with a recommendation for promotion to the rank of captain, more likely just leaving the army, he set sail for Spain in September 1575 with letters of commendation to the king from the duque de Sessa and Don Juan himself.
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La Galatea. La Galatea may come as the first set of novels written by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra but is no doubt one of the finest works from the author. Published by the mid-1580s, La Galatea tells the stories of many different, relatable characters who express their troubled romances within the rhythm of poetry.
The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 72 downloads. L'ingénieux hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche - Tome I (French) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 62 downloads. Numantia Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 60 downloads. Viage al Parnaso (Spanish) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra 52 downloads.
Signature. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( Spanish: [miˈɣel de θeɾˈβantes saaˈβeðɾa]; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) [5] was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his novel Don Quixote, a work ...
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