Miguel de Cervantes and Don Quixote: Life, Works, and Literary Impact

Miguel de Cervantes: Life and Works

Miguel de Cervantes had a very eventful life. After an altercation, he fled to Italy. As a soldier, he was wounded in his left hand at the Battle of Lepanto. Upon his return to Spain several years later, he was captured by Turks and taken to Algiers, where he attempted to escape multiple times. He was released five years later after a ransom was paid through the Trinitarian Friars. Back in Spain, he served as a supply curator in Andalusia. The imprisonment Cervantes suffered allowed him to meet all kinds of people, whom he later portrayed in his varied work.

Poetry and Theater

Most of his poetry is Renaissance in style, naturally employing the verses, meters, and themes introduced at the beginning of the century. Notable among his poetic works is Journey to Parnassus. Cervantes dedicated himself continuously to theater since his return from Algiers. At the beginning of the 17th century, his comedies evolved from Renaissance to Baroque, renewing the theater of the time. His greatest contribution was the entremeses: short plays in verse and prose. These works reflected the typology of his society and were part of the popular comic tone represented during the intermissions of longer comedies.

The Narrative of Cervantes

Cervantes's narrative works include:

• La Galatea, a pastoral novel with a Renaissance aesthetic.
• The Works of Persiles and Sigismunda, a Byzantine novel, released as his final work.

Exemplary Novels

This is a collection of 12 works, given the name 'exemplary novels' (or novelas ejemplares), using the term novella as it was understood in Italy to mean a short story. In the Exemplary Novels, there is a clear concern for verisimilitude. Cervantes's intention was to entertain, but with a moralizing character.

Don Quixote: A Literary Masterpiece

The book is divided into two parts, which correspond to the protagonist's three sallies or 'exits'.

Part One

The First Sally

This section introduces the characters and explains how Don Quixote loses his mind by reading too many novels of chivalry. It recounts how he leaves his house and, mistaking an inn for a castle, is knighted. In an adventure with merchants from Toledo, he is beaten. Aided by a neighbor who recognizes him, he returns to his village.

The Second Sally

Once recovered, and after Sancho Panza, a neighboring farmer, agrees to be his squire, both leave again in search of adventure. This second sally covers the rest of the first part of the book. Don Quixote and Sancho live many adventures, often products of Don Quixote's imagination. Cervantes intersperses the main story with narratives of various genres.

Part Two: The Third Sally

In this part, Don Quixote begins to see reality as it is, while Sancho, due to the continuous dialogue between the two, loses some of his realism to adopt some of his master's ideals.

Don Quixote: A Modern Novel

The work serves as a dense social document of its time, featuring real places, people, and all kinds of social groups. The characters of the protagonists, Don Quixote and Sancho, evolve throughout the novel. The verisimilitude of the narrative lends credibility to the story, making it a very attractive novel with various narrative structures.