Biography of Cervantes. Biography of Miguel Cervantes

Spain

Novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, soldier

Romance, short story, tragedy, interlude

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra(Spanish) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; September 29, Alcala de Henares - April 23, Madrid) is a world famous Spanish writer. First of all, he is known as the author of one of the greatest works of world literature - the novel The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha.

Cervantes family

Battle of Lepanto

There are several versions of his biography. The first, generally accepted version says that “in the midst of the war between Spain and the Turks, he entered the military service under the banners. In the battle of Lepanta, he appeared everywhere in the most dangerous place and, fighting with truly poetic enthusiasm, received three wounds and lost his arm. However, there is another, unlikely, version of his irreparable loss. Due to the poverty of his parents, Cervantes received a meager education and, unable to find a livelihood, was forced to steal. It was for theft that he was deprived of his hand, after which he had to leave for Italy. However, this version does not inspire confidence - if only because the hands of thieves at that time were no longer chopped off, as they were sent to the galleys, where both hands were required.

The Duke de Sesse, presumably in 1575, gave Miguel letters of introduction (lost by Miguel during his capture) for His Majesty and the Ministers, as he reported in his certificate of July 25, 1578. He also asked the king to provide mercy and help to the brave soldier.

Service in Seville

In Seville, he handled the affairs of the Navy on the orders of Antonio de Guevara.

Intention to go to America

Consequences

Monument to Miguel de Cervantes in Madrid (1835)

The world significance of Cervantes is based mainly on his novel Don Quixote, a full, comprehensive expression of his diverse genius. Conceived as a satire on the chivalric novels that flooded all literature at that time, as the author definitively declares in the Prologue, this work little by little, perhaps even regardless of the will of the author, turned into a deep psychological analysis of human nature, two sides of mental activity - noble, but crushed by the reality of idealism and realistic practicality.

Both of these sides found a brilliant manifestation in the immortal types of the hero of the novel and his squire; in their sharp contrast, they - and this is the deep psychological truth - constitute, however, one person; only the fusion of these two essential aspects of the human spirit constitutes a harmonious whole. Don Quixote is ridiculous, his adventures depicted by a brilliant brush - if you do not think about their inner meaning - cause uncontrollable laughter; but it is soon replaced in the thinking and feeling reader by another kind of laughter, "laughter through tears," which is the essential and indispensable condition of every great humorous creation.

In the novel of Cervantes, in the fate of his hero, it was precisely the world irony that was reflected in a high ethical form. In beatings and all sorts of other insults to which the knight is subjected - despite their somewhat anti-artistic in literary terms - is one of the best expressions of this irony. Turgenev noted another very important moment in the novel - the death of his hero: at this moment, all the great significance of this person becomes available to everyone. When his former squire, wanting to console him, tells him that they will soon go on knightly adventures, “no,” the dying man answers, “all this has gone forever, and I ask everyone for forgiveness.”

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra(Spanish) Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ; presumably September 29, Alcala de Henares - April 22, Madrid) is a world famous Spanish writer. First of all, he is known as the author of one of the greatest works of world literature - the novel "Cunning hidalgo Don Quixote La Mancha".

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Biography

early years

Miguel Cervantes was born into a family of impoverished nobles, in the city of Alcala de Henares. His father, hidalgo Rodrigo de Cervantes, was a modest doctor, his mother, Doña Leonor de Cortina, the daughter of a nobleman who had lost his fortune. There were seven children in their family, Miguel was the fourth child [ ] . Very little is known about Cervantes' early life. The date of his birth is considered to be September 29, 1547 (the day of the Archangel Michael). This date was established approximately on the basis of the records of the church book and the tradition that existed then to give the child a name in honor of the saint, whose feast falls on his birthday. It is authentically known that Cervantes was baptized on October 9, 1547 in the church of Santa Maria la Mayor in the city of Alcala de Henares.

Some biographers claim that Cervantes studied at the University of Salamanca, but there is no convincing evidence for this version. There is also an unconfirmed version that he studied with the Jesuits in Cordoba or Seville.

According to Abraham Chaim, president of the Sephardic community in Jerusalem, Cervantes' mother came from a family of baptized Jews. Cervantes' father was from the nobility, but in his hometown of Alcala de Henares, the house of his ancestors, which is located in the center of the hooderia, that is, the Jewish quarter. The house of Cervantes is located in the former Jewish part of the city [ ] .

The activity of the writer in Italy

The reasons that motivated Cervantes to leave Castile remain unknown. Whether he was a student, or a fugitive from justice, or a royal arrest warrant for wounding Antonio de Siguru in a duel, is another mystery of his life. In any case, when he left for Italy, he did what other young Spaniards did in one way or another for their careers. Rome revealed its church rituals and grandeur to the young writer. In a city teeming with ancient ruins, Cervantes discovered ancient art, and also concentrated on Renaissance art, architecture and poetry (his knowledge of Italian literature can be traced in his works). He was able to find in the achievements of the ancient world a powerful impetus for the revival of art. Thus, the enduring love for Italy, which is visible in his later work, was a kind of desire to return to the early period of the Renaissance.

Military career and the Battle of Lepanto

There is another, unlikely, version of the loss of a hand. Due to the poverty of his parents, Cervantes received a meager education and, unable to find a livelihood, was forced to steal. Allegedly, it was for stealing that he was deprived of his hand, after which he had to leave for Italy. However, this version does not inspire confidence - if only because the hands of thieves at that time were no longer chopped off, as they were sent to the galleys, where both hands were required.

The Duke de Sesse, presumably in 1575, gave Miguel letters of recommendation (lost by Miguel during his capture) for the king and ministers, as he reported in his certificate of July 25, 1578. He also asked the king to provide mercy and help to the brave soldier.

In Algerian captivity

In September 1575, Miguel Cervantes and his brother Rodrigo were returning from Naples to Barcelona aboard the galley "Sun" (la Galera del Sol). On the morning of September 26, on the approach to the Catalan coast, the galley was attacked by Algerian corsairs. The attackers were resisted, as a result of which many members of the Sun team were killed, and the rest were taken prisoner and taken to Algeria. :236 Letters of recommendation found in Cervantes' possession led to an increase in the ransom demanded. In Algerian captivity, Cervantes spent 5 years (-), tried to escape four times and was only miraculously not executed. In captivity, he was often subjected to various torments.

Father Rodrigo de Cervantes, according to his petition of March 17, 1578, indicated that his son "was captured in a galley" Sun“, under the command of Carrillo de Quesada,” and that he “was wounded by two shots from an arquebus in the chest, and was injured in his left arm, which he cannot use.” The father did not have the funds to ransom Miguel due to the fact that he had previously ransomed his other son, Rodrigo, who was also on that ship, from captivity. A witness to this petition, Mateo de Santisteban, noted that he had known Miguel for eight years, and met him when he was 22 or 23 years old, on the day of the battle of Lepanto. He testified that Miguel " on the day of the battle he was sick and had a fever", and he was advised to stay in bed, but he decided to take part in the battle. For distinction in battle, the captain rewarded him with four ducats on top of his usual pay.

The news (in the form of letters) about Miguel's stay in Algerian captivity was brought by the soldier Gabriel de Castañeda, a resident of the Carriedo mountain valley from the village of Salazar. According to his information, Miguel was in captivity for about two years (that is, since 1575) with a Greek converted to Islam, captain Arnautriomas.

In the petition of Miguel's mother dated 1580, it was reported that she asked " give permission for the export of 2,000 ducats in the form of goods from the kingdom Valencia for the ransom of her son.

Service in Seville

In Seville, he handled the affairs of the Spanish fleet on the orders of Antonio de Guevara.

Intention to go to America

Miguel de Cervantes. Instructive novels. Translation from Spanish by B. Krzhevsky. Moscow. Publishing house "Fiction". 1983

Personal life

Heritage

The monument to Cervantes was erected in Madrid only in 1835 (sculptor Antonio Sola); on the pedestal are two inscriptions in Latin and Spanish: "To Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, king of the Spanish poets, year M.D.CCC.XXXV".

The world significance of Cervantes rests mainly on his novel Don Quixote, a full, comprehensive expression of his diverse genius. Conceived as a satire on the chivalric novels that flooded all literature at that time, as the author definitively declares in the Prologue, this work little by little, perhaps even regardless of the will of the author, turned into a deep psychological analysis of human nature, two sides of mental activity - noble, but crushed by the reality of idealism and realistic practicality.

Both of these sides found a brilliant manifestation in the immortal types of the hero of the novel and his squire; in their sharp contrast, they - and this is the deep psychological truth - constitute, however, one person; only the fusion of these two essential aspects of the human spirit constitutes a harmonious whole. Don Quixote is ridiculous, his adventures depicted by a brilliant brush - if you do not think about their inner meaning - cause uncontrollable laughter; but it is soon replaced in the thinking and feeling reader by another kind of laughter, "laughter through tears," which is the essential and indispensable condition of every great humorous creation.

In the novel of Cervantes, in the fate of his hero, it was precisely the world irony that was reflected in a high ethical form. In beatings and all sorts of other insults to which the knight is subjected - despite their somewhat anti-artistic in literary terms - is one of the best expressions of this irony. Turgenev noted another very important moment in the novel - the death of his hero: at this moment, all the great significance of this person becomes available to everyone. When his former squire, wanting to console him, tells him that they will soon go on knightly adventures, “No,” the dying man answers, “all this has gone forever, and I ask everyone for forgiveness.”

Russian translations

The first Russian translator of Cervantes, according to the latest data, is N. I. Oznobishin, who translated the short story "Cornelia" in 1761.

Memory

• In honor of the heroine of Cervantes' short story "Gypsy Girl", the asteroid (529) Preciosa, discovered in 1904, was named (according to another version, it received the name from the title of the play by Pius Alexander Wolf, written in 1810).
• The asteroids (571) Dulcinea (discovered in 1905) and (3552) Don Quixote (discovered in 1983) are named after the heroine and hero of the novel The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha.
• In 1965, Salvador Dali made a series of "Five Immortal Spaniards" which included Cervantes, El Cid, El Greco, Velázquez and Don Quixote.
• In 1966, a USSR postage stamp dedicated to Cervantes was issued.
• In 1976, a crater named after Cervantes Cervantes on Mercury.
• On September 18, 2005, in honor of Cervantes, the asteroid discovered on February 2, 1992 by E. V. Elst at the European Southern Observatory was named "79144 Cervantes".
• The Plaza de España in Madrid is adorned with a sculptural composition, the central figure of which is Cervantes and his most famous heroes.
• The monument to Miguel Cervantes was erected in Moscow in the Friendship Park.
• In honor of Cervantes, an Argentine destroyer of the Churruca type was named.
• A monument to Cervantes is erected in the Spanish city of Toledo.
• A monument to Cervantes is erected in the city of Seville.
• A monument to Cervantes was erected in the Greek city of Nafpaktos (formerly known as Lepanto).
• A street in the Sosenskoye settlement of the Novomoskovsk administrative district of Moscow is named after Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; Spain Madrid; 09/29/1547 - 04/23/1616

Miguel Cervantes' books need no introduction. This world famous classic of literature. His works have been translated into more than 60 languages ​​of the world, and the total circulation of his books is simply incalculable. Cervantes' novel Don Quixote is read all over the world, which became for the poet and prose writer the work that carried his name through the centuries.

Biography of Miguel Cervantes

Miguel Cervantes became the fourth child in the family of a ruined Spanish nobleman. Little is known about his childhood and there is no reliable data about the place where he studied. It is only known that he soon moved to Rome, and at the age of 23 he was enrolled in a regiment of marines. Just a year later, he happened to participate in the battle of Lepanto, where he received three wounds. One of these wounds caused the loss of his left arm.

In 1575, returning to Barcelona, ​​he was captured by Algerian pirates and was enslaved for five whole years. After ransoming him from captivity, he had a chance to work in different places. And in 1584 he married Catalina de Salaras. The first literary work of Cervantes was the short story "Galatea", which did not receive due recognition. In addition, Cervantes wrote several other plays, which also did not receive wide recognition.

In search of food, Miguel Cervantes enters the post of quartermaster, and he begins to purchase provisions for the fleet. But his gullibility worked against him. The banker to whom Cervantes had entrusted all the money fled. As a result, he ends up in jail. The writer wrote the first part of his greatest book in 1604. Almost immediately after the publication, reading Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes becomes so popular that there are four editions of the book at once. In addition, the work has been translated into many European languages.

In the future, the author does not stop writing, but this has little effect on his disastrous financial situation. In 1615, the second part of Cervantes' novel Don Quixote was published. In addition, the writer publishes several of his works. But in 1616 he died of dropsy of the brain.

Books by Miguel Cervantes at Top Books

Cervantes' novel "Don Quixote" has been in demand in many countries of the world for many centuries. And our country was no exception, everyone reads Miguel Cervantes with the same rapture and, for sure, his works will remain, they will still be in demand in the future.

Miguel Cervantes book list

1. The Wanderings of Persiles and Sihismunda
2. Numancia
3. Instructive short stories
4. Galatea

Sideshows:

1. Salaman cave
2. A widowed rascal called Trumpagos
3. Biscay impostor
4. Two talkers
5. divorce judge
6. Miracle Theater
7. Argus
8. Election of alcaldes in Daganso
9. Jealous old man

Don Quixote:

1. The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha. Part 2

early years

Church where Cervantes was baptized, Alcala de Henares

Miguel Cervantes was born into a family of impoverished nobles, in the city of Alcala de Henares. His father, hidalgo Rodrigo de Cervantes, was a modest doctor, his mother, Doña Leonor de Cortina, the daughter of a nobleman who had lost his fortune. There were seven children in their family, Miguel was the fourth child. Very little is known about Cervantes' early life. The date of his birth is September 29, 1547 (the day of the Archangel Michael). This date was established approximately on the basis of the records of the church book and the tradition that existed then to give the child a name in honor of the saint, whose feast falls on his birthday. It is authentically known that Cervantes was baptized on October 9, 1547 in the church of Santa Maria la Mayor in the city of Alcala de Henares.

Some biographers claim that Cervantes studied at the University of Salamanca, but there is no convincing evidence for this version. There is also an unconfirmed version that he studied with the Jesuits in Cordoba or Seville.

According to Abraham Chaim, president of the Sephardic community in Jerusalem, Cervantes' mother came from a family of baptized Jews. Cervantes' father was from the nobility, but in his hometown of Alcala de Henares, the house of his ancestors, which is located in the center of the hooderia, that is, the Jewish quarter. The Cervantes House is located in the former Jewish part of the city.

The activity of the writer in Italy

The reasons that prompted Cervantes to leave Castile remain unknown. Whether he was a student, or a fugitive from justice, or a royal arrest warrant for wounding Antonio de Siguru in a duel, is another mystery of his life. In any case, when he left for Italy, he did what other young Spaniards did for their careers in one way or another. Rome revealed its church rituals and grandeur to the young writer. In a city teeming with ancient ruins, Cervantes discovered ancient art and also concentrated his attention on Renaissance art, architecture and poetry (his knowledge of Italian literature can be seen in his works). He was able to find in the achievements of the ancient world a powerful impetus for the revival of art. Thus, the enduring love for Italy, which is visible in his later work, was a kind of desire to return to the early period of the Renaissance.

Military career and the Battle of Lepanto

By 1570, Cervantes was enrolled as a soldier in the Spanish Marine Regiment stationed in Naples. He stayed there for about a year before entering active service. In September 1571, Cervantes sailed aboard the Marquis, part of the galley fleet of the Holy League, which on October 7 defeated the Ottoman flotilla at the Battle of Lepanto in the Gulf of Patras. Despite the fact that Cervantes had a fever that day, he refused to stay in bed and asked to fight. According to eyewitnesses, he said: "I prefer, even when sick and in the heat, to fight, as befits a good soldier ... and not hide under the protection of the deck." He fought bravely on board the ship and received three gunshot wounds - two in the chest and one in the forearm. The last wound deprived his left arm of mobility. In his poem Journey to Parnassus, he had to say that he "lost the capacity of his left hand for the glory of his right" (he thought about the success of the first part of Don Quixote). Cervantes always recalled with pride his participation in this battle: he believed that he had taken part in an event that would determine the course of European history.

There is another, unlikely, version of the loss of a hand. Due to the poverty of his parents, Cervantes received a meager education and, unable to find a livelihood, was forced to steal. Allegedly, it was for stealing that he was deprived of his hand, after which he had to leave for Italy. However, this version does not inspire confidence - if only because the hands of thieves at that time were no longer chopped off, as they were sent to the galleys, where both hands were required.

After the Battle of Lepanto, Miguel Cervantes remained in the hospital for 6 months until his wounds had healed enough to allow him to continue his service. From 1572 to 1575 he continued his service, being mainly in Naples. In addition, he participated in expeditions to Corfu and Navarino, witnessed the capture of Tunisia and La Goulette by the Turks in 1574. In addition, Cervantes was in Portugal and also carried out business trips to Oran (1580s); served in Seville.

The Duke de Sesse, presumably in 1575, gave Miguel letters of introduction (lost by Miguel during his capture) for the king and ministers, as he reported in his certificate of July 25, 1578. He also asked the king to provide mercy and help to the brave soldier.

In Algerian captivity

In September 1575, Miguel Cervantes and his brother Rodrigo were returning from Naples to Barcelona aboard the galley "Sun" (la Galera del Sol). On the morning of September 26, on the way to the Catalan coast, the galley was attacked by Algerian corsairs. The attackers were resisted, as a result of which many members of the Sun team were killed, and the rest were taken prisoner and taken to Algeria. Letters of recommendation found in Cervantes' possession led to an increase in the amount of the required ransom. In Algerian captivity, Cervantes spent 5 years (1575-1580), tried to escape four times and was only miraculously not executed. In captivity, he was often subjected to various torments.

Father Rodrigo de Cervantes, according to his petition of March 17, 1578, indicated that his son "was captured in the galley Sun, under the command of Carrillo de Quesada", and that he "was wounded by two shots from an arquebus in the chest, and was injured in his left hand, which he cannot use. The father did not have the funds to ransom Miguel due to the fact that he had previously ransomed his other son, Rodrigo, who was also on that ship, from captivity. A witness to this petition, Mateo de Santisteban, noted that he had known Miguel for eight years, and met him when he was 22 or 23 years old, on the day of the battle of Lepanto. He also testified that Miguel "was ill on the day of the battle and had a fever" and was advised to stay in bed, but he decided to take part in the battle. For distinction in battle, the captain rewarded him with four ducats on top of his usual pay.

The news (in the form of letters) about Miguel's stay in Algerian captivity was brought by the soldier Gabriel de Castañeda, a resident of the Carriedo mountain valley from the village of Salazar. According to his information, Miguel was in captivity for about two years (that is, since 1575) with a Greek converted to Islam, captain Arnautriomami.

In a petition from Miguel's mother dated 1580, it was reported that she asked "to give permission for the export of 2000 ducats in the form of goods from the kingdom of Valencia" for the ransom of her son.

On October 10, 1580, a notarial deed was drawn up in Algiers in the presence of Miguel Cervantes and 11 witnesses in order to redeem him from captivity. On October 22, a monk from the Order of the Holy Trinity (Trinitarian) Juan Gil "The Liberator of Captives" compiled a report based on this notarial act confirming Cervantes' merits to the king.

Service in Portugal

After being released from captivity, Miguel served with his brother in Portugal, as well as with the Marquis de Santa Cruz.

Trip to Oran

By order of the king, Miguel made a trip to Oran in the 1590s.

Service in Seville

In Seville, he handled the affairs of the Spanish fleet on the orders of Antonio de Guevara.

Intention to go to America

On May 21, 1590, in Madrid, Miguel petitions the Council of the Indies for a vacant seat in the American colonies, in particular in the "Auditing Office of the New Kingdom of Granada or the Governorate of the Province of Soconusco in Guatemala, or the Accountant on the Galleys of Cartagena, or the Corregidor of the city of La Paz" , and all because he still has not received favors for his long (22 years) service to the Crown. The Chairman of the Council of the Indies, on June 6, 1590, left a note on the petition that the bearer "deserved to be given any service and could be trusted."

Cervantes about himself

In the prologue of the Instructive Novels in 1613, Miguel de Cervantes wrote:

Under the portrait, my friend could write: “The man you see here, with an oval face, brown hair, an open and large forehead, a cheerful look and a humpbacked, although correct nose; with a silver beard, which twenty years ago was still golden; long mustache, small mouth; with teeth that are not very rare, but not dense either, because he has only six of them, and, moreover, very unsightly and poorly spaced, because there is no correspondence between them; ordinary growth - neither big nor small; with a good complexion, rather fair than swarthy; slightly stooped and heavy on his feet, he is the author of Galatea and Don Quixote of La Mancha, who, in imitation of Cesare Caporali of Perugia, wrote Journey to Parnassus and other works that go around distorted, and sometimes without the name of the composer. His colloquial name is Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He served as a soldier for many years and spent five and a half years in captivity, where he managed to learn to endure misfortunes patiently. At the naval battle of Lepanto his hand was mutilated by a shot from an arquebus, and although this mutilation seems otherwise ugly, in his eyes it is beautiful, for he received it in one of the most famous battles that were known in past centuries and that can happen in future, fighting under the victorious banners of the son of the "Thunderstorm of Wars" - the blessed memory of Charles the Fifth.

Miguel de Cervantes. Instructive novels. Translation from Spanish by B. Krzhevsky. Moscow. Publishing house "Fiction". 1983

Personal life

On December 12, 1584, Miguel Cervantes married a nineteen-year-old noblewoman of the city of Esquivias, Catalina Palacios de Salazar, from whom he received a small dowry. He had one illegitimate daughter - Isabel de Cervantes.

Character

The best of Cervantes' biographers, Schall, described him as follows: “The poet, windy and dreamy, lacked worldly skill, and he did not benefit either from his military campaigns or from his works. It was a selfless soul, incapable of gaining glory or counting on success, alternately enchanted or indignant, irresistibly surrendering to all its impulses ... He was seen naively in love with everything beautiful, generous and noble, indulging in romantic dreams or love dreams, ardent on the battlefield, then immersed in deep reflection, then carefree cheerful ... From the analysis of his life, he comes out with honor, full of generous and noble activity, an amazing and naive prophet, heroic in his disasters and kind in his genius.

Literary activity

Miguel's literary activity began quite late, when he was 38 years old. The first work, the pastoral novel Galatea (1585), was followed by a large number of dramatic plays, which enjoyed poor success.

In order to earn his daily bread, the future author of Don Quixote enters the commissary service; he is assigned to buy provisions for the "Invincible Armada", then he is appointed as a collector of arrears. In the performance of these duties, he suffers great setbacks. Having entrusted public money to one banker who fled with them, Cervantes was imprisoned in 1597 on charges of embezzlement. Five years later, he was destined to be imprisoned again on charges of money abuse. His life in those years was a whole chain of severe hardships, hardships and disasters.

In the midst of all this, he does not stop his writing activity until he prints anything. The wanderings prepare the material for his future work, serving as a means for studying Spanish life in its various manifestations.

From 1598 to 1603 there is almost no news of the life of Cervantes. In 1603, he appeared in Valladolid, where he was engaged in small private affairs that gave him a meager income, and in 1604 the first part of the novel The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha was published, which was a huge success in Spain (the first part sold out in a few weeks). edition and 4 others in the same year) and abroad (translations into many languages). However, it did not improve the author's financial situation in the least, but only increased the hostile attitude towards him, expressed in ridicule, slander, and persecution.

From that time until his death, Cervantes' literary activity did not stop: between 1604 and 1616, the second part of Don Quixote appeared, all the short stories, many dramatic works, the poem Journey to Parnassus, and the novel printed after the death of the author was written. Persiles and Sikhismund.

Almost on his deathbed, Cervantes did not stop working; a few days before his death, he took the vows as a monk. On April 22, 1616, life ended (he died of dropsy), which the bearer himself in his philosophical humor called “long imprudence” and, leaving which, he “carried away a stone on his shoulders with an inscription in which the destruction of his hopes was read.” However, according to the customs of that time, the date of his death was recorded as the date of his funeral - 23 April. Because of this, it is sometimes said that the date of Cervantes' death coincides with the date of the death of another great writer - William Shakespeare, in fact, Cervantes died 11 days earlier (since, at that time, the Gregorian calendar was in effect in Spain, and the Julian calendar in England). April 23, 1616 is sometimes considered the end of the Renaissance.

Heritage

Cervantes died in Madrid, where he had moved from Valladolid shortly before his death. The irony of fate pursued the great humorist behind the coffin: his grave remained lost, since there was not even an inscription on his tomb (in one of the churches). The remains of the writer were discovered and identified only in March 2015 in one of the crypts in the monastery de las Trinitarias. In June of the same year they were reburied.

The monument to Cervantes was erected in Madrid only in 1835 (sculptor Antonio Sola); on the pedestal are two inscriptions in Latin and Spanish: "To Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, king of the Spanish poets, year M.D.CCC.XXXV."

The world significance of Cervantes rests mainly on his novel Don Quixote, a full, comprehensive expression of his diverse genius. Conceived as a satire on the chivalric novels that flooded all literature at that time, as the author definitively declares in the Prologue, this work little by little, perhaps even regardless of the will of the author, turned into a deep psychological analysis of human nature, two sides of mental activity - noble, but crushed by the reality of idealism and realistic practicality.

Both of these sides found a brilliant manifestation in the immortal types of the hero of the novel and his squire; in their sharp contrast, they - and this is the deep psychological truth - constitute, however, one person; only the fusion of these two essential aspects of the human spirit constitutes a harmonious whole. Don Quixote is ridiculous, his adventures depicted by a brilliant brush - if you do not think about their inner meaning - cause uncontrollable laughter; but it is soon replaced in the thinking and feeling reader by another kind of laughter, "laughter through tears," which is the essential and indispensable condition of every great humorous creation.

In the novel of Cervantes, in the fate of his hero, it was precisely the world irony that was reflected in a high ethical form. In beatings and all sorts of other insults to which the knight is subjected - despite their somewhat anti-artistic in literary terms - is one of the best expressions of this irony. Turgenev noted another very important moment in the novel - the death of his hero: at this moment, all the great significance of this person becomes available to everyone. When his former squire, wanting to console him, tells him that they will soon go on knightly adventures, “No,” the dying man answers, “all this has gone forever, and I ask everyone for forgiveness.”

Cervantes was born in 1547 in the small town of Alcala de Henares, twenty miles from Madrid. He was the youngest member of a poor but noble hidalgo family.

His father's name was Rodrigo Cervantes, his mother was Leonora Cortinas. In addition to Miguel, the family had two daughters, Andrea and Luisa, and a son, Rodrigo. The most famous Spanish writer was the fourth of seven children in the family of a barber-chiropractor. He was baptized on October 9, and September 29 is supposed to be his birthday, since this is the day of St. Miguel.

The Cervantes family was five centuries old in chivalry and public service, and was not only widespread in Spain, but had representatives in Mexico and other parts of the Americas. “This family,” the historian testifies, “is in the Spanish chronicles for five centuries surrounded by such brilliance and glory that, regarding its origin, there is no reason to envy any of the most noble families of Europe.” In the 15th century, the surname Saavedra merged with the surname Cervantes through marriage, which fell into extreme decline in the 16th century. Using the example of the Cervantes family, one can easily trace the history of the impoverishment of the Spanish nobility and the growth of the so-called "hidalgia" - nobles "deprived of their wealth, seigneuries, the right of jurisdiction and high public posts."

The writer's grandfather, Juan, occupied a fairly prominent position in Andalusia, was at one time the senior mayor of the city of Cordoba and had a well-known fortune. Cervantes' father, Rodrigo, who suffered from deafness, did not hold any judicial or administrative posts and did not go beyond a free-practitioner doctor, that is, he was a person, even from the point of view of "hidalgia", quite insignificant. The writer's mother also belonged to the circle of poor nobles.

Rodrigo de Cervantes was forced to move from place to place in search of work. The family followed him. Judging by the heroic efforts that Cervantes' parents spent later on raising the necessary amount to ransom Miguel and his younger brother Rodrigo from Algerian captivity, the family was friendly and strong.

The wandering physician Rodrigo de Cervantes and his family finally settled in Valladolid, then the official capital of the kingdom, in 1551. But here, too, he did not live long. Less than a year later, Rodrigo was arrested for failing to pay a debt to a local moneylender; as a result of the arrest, the family's already meager property was sold at auction.

The vagabond life began again, leading Cervantes first to Cordoba, then returning him to Valladolid, from there to Madrid and, finally, to Seville. Miguel's school years belong to the Valladolid period. At the age of ten he entered the college of the Jesuits, where he remained for four years from 1557 to 1561. Miguel completed his education in Madrid with one of the best Spanish teachers of that time, the humanist Juan Lopez de Hoyos, who later became his godfather in literature.

By the end of the sixties of the XVI century, the Cervantes family entered a period of final ruin. In this regard, Miguel and his younger brother Rodrigo had to think about how to earn their own bread, choosing one of the three possibilities that opened up to the Spanish nobles of the middle hand - to seek their fortune in the church, at court or in the army. Miguel, taking advantage of the recommendation of his teacher Juan López de Hoyos, who proclaimed him "his dear and beloved student", chose the second option. He entered the service of the extraordinary ambassador of Pope Pius the Fifth, Monsignor Giulio Acquaviva y Aragon, who arrived in Madrid in 1568.

The same period saw the publication of the first poem by Cervantes, dedicated to the death of the young wife of King Philip II of Spain, Elizabeth of Valois in 1568. Together with the ambassador, Cervantes left Madrid and arrived in Rome at the beginning of 1569. Under Akvaviva, he held the position of chamberlain (keykeeper), that is, an approximate person.

In the service of Acquaviva, who became a cardinal in the spring of 1570, Cervantes spent about a year. In the second half of 1570, he entered the Spanish army stationed in Italy, in the regiment of Miguel de Moncada.

The five years spent by Cervantes in the ranks of the Spanish troops in Italy were a very important period in his life. They gave him the opportunity to visit the largest Italian cities: Rome, Milan, Bologna, Venice, Palermo - and thoroughly get acquainted with the way of Italian life. No less important than close contact with the life of Italy in the 16th century, with the life of its cities, was for Cervantes familiarity with the rich Italian culture, especially literature. The long stay of Cervantes in Italy allowed him not only to master the Italian language, but also to expand the humanitarian knowledge acquired by him at the Madrid school.

To a thorough acquaintance with ancient literature and mythology, Cervantes added a wide acquaintance with all the best that the Italian Renaissance created both in literature and in the field of philosophy - with the poetry of Dante, Petrarch, Ariosto, with Boccaccio's Decameron, with the Italian short story and the shepherd's novel, with the Neoplatonists. Although Cervantes called himself half-jokingly "talent, inexperienced in science," he was, by his own admission, an avid reader.

Along with the greatest representatives of ancient literature - Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and others, as well as the writers of the Italian Renaissance mentioned above, the list includes characters from Holy Scripture and Eastern (Arabic) writing. The worldview of Cervantes was influenced by the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam, he was a remarkable connoisseur of national Spanish literature, folk poetry (romances) and, in general, national folklore.

In the early 70s, a war broke out between the Holy League, which was formed by Spain, Venice and the Pope, and the Ottoman Empire. Cervantes distinguished himself in the famous naval battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571, when the Turkish fleet was defeated. That day, Cervantes was ill with a fever, but demanded that he be allowed to participate in the battle: thanks to the testimony of one of his comrades, the words he uttered came through: “I prefer, even being sick and in the heat, to fight, as befits a good soldier ... and do not hide under the protection of the deck." Cervantes' request was granted: at the head of twelve soldiers, he guarded the boat ladder during the battle and received three gunshot wounds: two in the chest and one in the forearm. This last wound turned out to be fatal: since then, Cervantes has no longer owned his left hand, as he himself said, "to the greater glory of the right."

Severe wounds led the writer to the hospital in Messina, from where he left only at the end of April 1572. But the injury did not prompt him to leave military service. Enrolled in the regiment of Lope de Figueroa, Cervantes spent some time on the island of Corfu, where the regiment was stationed. On October 2, 1572, he participated in the naval battle of Navarino, and the following year he joined the expeditionary force sent under the command of Don Juan of Austria to North Africa to strengthen the fortresses of Goleta and Tunisia. In 1573, the regiment of Cervantes was returned to Italy to carry out garrison service, first in Sardinia, and somewhat later, in 1574, in Naples.

In 1575, Cervantes left Italy, having secured letters of recommendation from Juan of Austria, who appreciated him as a brave soldier, and sailed with his brother, Rodrigo, from Naples. On September 26, 1575, the galley in which he sailed with his brother was captured near the Bolearic Islands by African corsairs. The entire crew, together with Cervantes, despite courageous resistance, was captured and sold into slavery in Algeria by Dali-Mami. Cervantes himself was in chains, but thanks to the letters of recommendation of Juan of Austria found with him, from which the corsairs deduced the wealth and nobility of the captive, he was not treated too cruelly.

Cervantes' first escape attempt failed because of the betrayal of an Arab who was supposed to be a guide for the fugitives who intended to reach Oran. The Arab left the fugitives to their fate on the first day. In 1576, taking advantage of the fact that one of the ransomed captives was returning to his homeland, Cervantes sent a message to his relatives about his slavery. Cervantes' father mobilized for the ransom of his sons all his meager means, up to the dowry of both daughters. However, the funds received were not enough, and Cervantes used them to ransom his brother in August 1577.

The new liberation plan, developed jointly with his brother, was also unsuccessful. At the moment when the fugitives were about to board the waiting ship, their shelter was discovered by the Turks. The situation of the prisoners deteriorated greatly, and all of them were threatened with the most severe punishments, but Cervantes announced that he alone was responsible for organizing the escape. He was closely monitored. After some time, he found a way to inform the ruler of Oran about the plight of the prisoners and outlined a possible plan for their rescue. However, the Moor, who was instructed to take this letter, was seized on the way and put on a stake.

Another attempt ended in failure. The fugitives were supposed to sail on a frigate equipped with two Valencian merchants, but were betrayed by a former Dominican monk who reported this to the Algerian dey. For some time, Cervantes hid with one of his friends, but after learning that the dey was looking for him everywhere and threatening the hiders with death, he voluntarily gave himself into the hands of enemies. He stated that he alone came up with the escape plan with the participation of four comrades who were at large, and that none of the prisoners knew about the plan until the moment the frigate sailed. Dey imprisoned Cervantes, where he stayed for five months.

While Cervantes was looking for ways to escape from slavery, his father did not stop troubles in his homeland about the redemption of his son. With great effort and sacrifice, his family managed to collect 300 ducats, which were handed over to the "Brothers of Redemption", a special public organization that ransomed prisoners. However, for Cervantes, his owner demanded an amount that significantly exceeded the money sent by his relatives. Only with the help of one of the "brothers", who contributed the missing amount for Cervantes, he received his freedom. It was September 19, 1580. He arrived in Spain, taking with him excellent attestations, but without any means of subsistence. Cervantes again joined the army in Portugal, where he stayed from 1581 to 1583.

Later, a stormy, adventurous life was replaced by a routine of civil service, a constant lack of funds and pen trials. Once he even won the first prize in the competition of poets in Zaragoza - three silver spoons.

This period includes the first major work, Cervantes - the pastoral novel Galatea (Primera parte de la Galatea, dividida en seys libros, 1585), which had some success. This novel was supposed to consist of two parts, but the second part never saw the light, although Cervantes repeatedly promised to publish it. The pastoral novel gave the writer access to literary circles.

Meanwhile, the financial situation of the family during this time not only did not improve, but became more and more difficult every year, the family was replenished with the illegitimate daughter of Cervantes, Isavel de Saavedra. The marriage of Miguel in 1584 with a native of the city of Esquivias, nineteen-year-old Catalina de Salazar y Palacios, who brought him a very small dowry, did not help the family to rise.

In the autumn of 1587, Cervantes managed to get a position as commissioner for urgent procurement for the "Invincible Armada" in cities and villages located in the vicinity of Seville.

Supplies to the army were made by requisitioning surplus food from the population. For people with a bad conscience, for the "knights of easy money", supplies were a means of getting rich quick. But where other food commissars amassed fortunes through bribes and embezzlement, Cervantes suffered only setbacks. He preferred to live on a meager salary, which was also paid very irregularly. Cervantes' unwillingness to make deals with his conscience almost ended tragically for him: the conscientious performance of commissar's duties involved him in a dispute with the church administration in the town of Ecije and threatened him with excommunication, and this, in turn, could lead him to the dungeons of the Inquisition. In addition, Cervantes, with all his great and sober mind, was not distinguished by accuracy. Negligence in the reports led to clashes with the financial control authorities, to accusations of illegal requisitions, of hiding money. One of these clashes ended for Cervantes with imprisonment, albeit for a short time, in the prison of the city of Castro del Rio in 1592. Thus, service in the food department not only did not improve the material situation of Cervantes and his family, who still lived in Madrid, but, on the contrary, made it even more difficult and worsened.

The new appointment to the post of collector of tax arrears in the kingdom of Granada, which took place in the middle of 1594, was a source of new disasters for Cervantes. Having traveled to Madrid and having provided himself with a financial guarantee, Cervantes began collecting arrears and already in August of the same year he was able to transfer the amount of seven thousand four hundred reais to the Seville banker Simon Freire de Lima for transfer to Madrid. And it was here that Cervantes suffered another failure, surpassing all others in size. The banker declared himself bankrupt, and although the treasury managed to recover from him the amount handed over by Cervantes, the matter did not end there.

Despite the fact that Cervantes legally handed over to the treasury the entire balance of the arrears collected by him, the treasury, accusing him of concealment, brought him a significant claim. And since Cervantes could not provide evidence of his innocence and pay the claim, he was sent to the Seville royal prison in September 1597, where he spent about three months. A new prison sentence, all in the same case of concealment of amounts, befell him in 1602. However, the authorities were not satisfied with this. In November 1608, that is, ten or eleven years after the filing of the suit, they again called Cervantes to testify. This was all that royal power gave to the “honored veteran of the war”, who shed blood for her on the battlefields and honestly performed the heavy duties assigned to him in requisitioning and collecting arrears.

The beginning of a great period in the work of Cervantes, which gave the world his immortal novel in two parts, The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, his wonderful short stories, the collection Eight Comedies and Eight Interludes, the poem Journey to Parnassus, and also The Wanderings of Persiles and Sichismunda , should be considered the year 1603, to which, apparently, the beginning of writing "Don Quixote" refers.

During one of his stays in the dungeon, by the writer's own admission, an image of a man who went crazy from reading chivalric novels and went to perform chivalrous deeds in imitation of the heroes of his favorite books arose in his imagination. This was originally the idea for the novel. In the process of working on it, novel prospects for the development of the plot about Don Quixote opened up before the author.

The dates are established on the basis of Cervantes's own words that his novel was born "in a dungeon, the seat of all kinds of interference, the abode of mere dull sounds." The writer had in mind his imprisonment in a Seville prison in 1602.

In 1604, Cervantes parted with Seville and settled in the temporary capital of Spain - the city of Valladolid, where his family members then moved, with the exception of his wife, who continued to live in Esquivias. By this time, the Cervantes family had decreased: in Flanders, his younger brother and comrade in Algerian captivity Rodrigo had died - and now consisted of his two sisters, Andrea and Madalena, the illegitimate daughter of Isaveli de Saavedro and the niece of Costanza Ovando. The financial situation of the family continued to be disastrous.

In the summer of 1604, Cervantes was negotiating in Madrid with the bookseller Robles for the publication of the novel The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, completed by that time. The Cunning Hidalgo was originally printed in Valladolid at the end of 1604 in a small edition. And appeared in Madrid bookstores in January 1605. The author was more famous for his suffering in the Algerian captivity than for literary fame, an already elderly man, moreover, an invalid.

In the spring of 1605 in Madrid, the printing house of Juan de la Cuesta printed the second edition of the editio princeps. The success of the novel is evidenced by the fact that in the same year its second edition appears, containing a number of discrepancies with the first, it is reprinted twice in Lisbon and once in Valencia. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, as characters in carnival processions, appear on the streets of Spanish cities and even in the colonies - in the capital of Peru, Lima.

"The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" (1605-1615) is a parody of a chivalric romance, a kind of encyclopedia of Spanish life in the 17th century, a work with deep social and philosophical content. Don Quixote's name has become a household name for noble but fruitless efforts.

Thousands of pages have been written about Don Quixote, about the universal and national significance of the novel. It is unlikely that there will be at least one among world-famous writers who would not come forward with their own interpretation of the novel or judgment about it. According to Paul Lafargue, Don Quixote was Karl Marx's favorite book. In pre-revolutionary Russia, Pushkin spoke about the novel, advising Gogol at the time of his creation of "Dead Souls" to take an example from Cervantes, Belinsky, who did not skimp on enthusiastic praises of "Don Quixote", Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Turgenev, who in his famous essay contrasted the egoism of Hamlet with the beautiful soul of La Mancha hidalgo, Dostoevsky, Gorky, Lunacharsky. It is known that Mayakovsky liked to read the story of the cunning hidalgo as a child.

In the novel, Cervantes seeks to convince readers that the only reason that prompted him to write was the desire to ridicule the absurdities of chivalric novels, to kill them "by the power of laughter." Considering the great popularity of this literary fiction - suffice it to note that from 1508 to 1612 about one hundred and twenty works of the chivalrous genre appeared in Spain, of which only a few, like "Amadis of Gaul" or "Palmerino English", possessed artistic merit - one has to recognize the legitimacy and the importance of the struggle undertaken by Cervantes. At the same time, we know that, having “dealt with” chivalric literature in the sixth chapter of the first part of the novel (the destruction of Don Quixote’s chivalric library), bringing his insane hero into contact with the cruel reality surrounding him, Cervantes strictly judges not only him, but also the surrounding his social injustice. As the action develops, the parody becomes more complicated, it ceases to be purely literary, its accusatory character becomes more and more obvious. It continues to play the role of a link necessary to maintain the unity of action. But since the satirical orientation of the novel could involve the author in a conflict with the Inquisition, all the more terrible for him because he was almost excommunicated during his service in the commissariat department, Cervantes is subsequently forced to resort to disguise: he introduces into the novel "Arabic- La Mancha historian" Sid Ahmet Ben-inkhali and attributes to him some of his satirical statements. Cervantes in this case turned out to be much more far-sighted than his hero: Don Quixote, in the wonderful expression of Karl Marx, "had to pay dearly for his mistake when he imagined that knight-errant was equally compatible with all economic forms of society." Having experienced the contradiction between the dream of the Golden Age and Spanish reality, and remembering that in 1559 Philip II staged an unprecedented public burning of “heretics” (under this concept, the Inquisition brought not only Moriscos and Jews, but also all dissidents), Cervantes had to be especially careful.

Knight and his squire. It was no accident that Cervantes took them from the environment of the Spanish seedy nobility - the hidalgia and the landless peasantry, who in his time made up the bulk of the population. Carrying a great social burden, the images of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza provided Cervantes with exceptional opportunities in their breadth and depth. In the mouth of a knight, hiding behind his madness, Cervantes put all those lessons of moral perfection, political wisdom and honesty that he wanted to teach his contemporaries.

The second part of the novel was written by Cervantes ten years later than the first. Between the two parts are other works of Cervantes, namely: "Instructive novels" (1613) and "Eight comedies and eight interludes, which made up the collection of 1615.

The works written by him in the first years after his return to his homeland from Algerian captivity are also published: the shepherd's novel "Galatea" and up to thirty dramatic works, "comedies", most of which have not reached us.

Information about the dramaturgy of Cervantes in the "Seville" period of his work is limited to what Cervantes himself says about his early dramas in the preface to the collection Eight Comedies and Eight Interludes, released by him in 1615. He reports that his "More of Algeria" and also "The Destruction of Numancia" and "Battle of the Sea" were played in the theaters of Madrid, and recognizes himself as the author of twenty or thirty plays written by him at that time. The Naval Battle, which has not come down to us, as far as we can assume from the title of the play, glorified the famous victory at Lepanto, which played such a fatal role in the life of Cervantes.

In 1614, in the midst of Cervantes' work on it, a false continuation of the novel appeared, written by an anonymous author, hiding under the pseudonym "Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda." The Prologue to "False Quixote" contained rude attacks against Cervantes personally, and its content demonstrated a complete misunderstanding by the author of the forgery of the entire complexity of the original intent. The False Quixote contains a number of episodes that coincide in plot with episodes from the second part of Cervantes' novel. The dispute between researchers about the priority of Cervantes or Anonymous cannot be finally resolved. Most likely, Cervantes deliberately included reworked episodes from Avellaneda's work in the second part of Don Quixote in order to once again demonstrate his ability to turn artistically insignificant texts into art.

It remains unclear whether or not Cervantes knew the real name of the author of the fake. It is usually assumed that he did not know. But this is unlikely. The spurious Don Quixote was received by Cervantes with great and quite legitimate irritation, and had a detrimental effect on his health. And yet Cervantes limited himself to only an angry rebuke to his mysterious enemy. The false Don Quixote, despite its undeniable literary quality and the briskness of the pen that wrote it, did not have much success and, in general, went unnoticed.

The second part of The Cunning Caballero of Don Quixote of La Mancha was published in 1615 in Madrid in the same printing house as Don Quixote of the 1605 edition. For the first time, both parts of Don Quixote saw the light under one cover in 1637.

In the interval between the publication of the first and second parts of Don Quixote, in 1613, the second work of Cervantes in terms of literary significance, namely his Edifying Novels, was published. Translated shortly after their appearance into French, English, Italian and Dutch, the novellas provided the source for a number of stage adaptations. The warm welcome given by the Spanish writers to the Instructive Novels is an indisputable recognition of the justice of Cervantes' words that "he was the first to write novels in Castilian, for all the numerous novels printed in Spain were translated from foreign languages."

The final period in the life of Cervantes, very rich in creative terms, proceeded mainly in Madrid, where Cervantes moved after the proclamation of this city as the capital of the kingdom in 1606.

In Madrid, he lived in poor neighborhoods, the financial situation of his family did not become easier. But, without improving the position of Cervantes, the huge success of his novel prompted the writer to continue his literary work.

These years were overshadowed for him by the death of both of his sisters, who had taken the veil before their death, and by the second marriage of his daughter Isaveli de Saavedra, which increased the writer's financial constraints due to the groom's demand to guarantee a dowry. The example of the sisters of Cervantes was followed by his wife, who also took the tonsure. And Cervantes himself joined in 1609 the Brotherhood of Servants of Holy Communion, whose members were not only high-ranking persons, but also a number of major Spanish writers (including Lope de Vega and Quevedo). Later, in 1613, Cervantes became a tertiary (a member of the semi-monastic religious Brotherhood of the Laity) of the Franciscan Order and, on the eve of his death, accepted "full consecration."

Cervantes died of heart disease on April 23, 1616. He was buried in the monastery he himself indicated at the expense of the charitable sums of the Brotherhood.

"Excuse me, joys! Excuse me, fun! Excuse me, cheerful friends! I'm dying in the hope of a quick and joyful meeting in another world" - with these words the brilliant Spaniard addressed his readers in the preface to his latest creation.

A few centuries later, Cervantes is alive in the memory of people, just as his immortal heroes are alive - a knight and a squire, still wandering in search of goodness, justice and beauty across the vast plains of their homeland.

For the first time, a monument to an outstanding writer was erected in Madrid in 1835.