What did Miguel Cervantes write? Biography of Miguel 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 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 for different places. And in 1584 he married Catalina de Salaras. First literary works 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

Life of Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was born in early October 1547 in Alcala de Henares. His parents were poor, but gave him a good upbringing. The young Cervantes studied first in his hometown, then in Madrid and Salamanca, attracted the attention of teachers with his curiosity and poetic talent. In the preface to Journey to Parnassus, he says: "From childhood I loved the sweet art of beautiful poetry." Poverty forced him to seek his fortune abroad. Cardinal Acquaviva, who came to Madrid on behalf of the pope, took him into his service. Through Catalonia and Provence, Cervantes went with Acquaviva to Rome, stayed there for some time in his service, and then entered the Spanish army, which was supposed to sail from Italy to the war with the Turks. He fought bravely in the famous sea Battle of Lepanto, lost there left hand, which he often mentions with pride in his works. In his novel "Persiles and Sigismund" he says that best warriors- those people who go to the battlefield from the field of science: whoever became a warrior from a scientist has always been a brave soldier.

Before recovering from his wound, Cervantes lived in Messina, then again went under the command of Marcantonio Colonna to the war with the Turks and participated in the assault on Navarino. After that, he served in the Spanish squadron, which sailed under the command of Don Juan to Tunisia, then a year remained in one of the detachments that were garrisoned in Sicily and Naples. In 1575 he went to Spain with a letter of recommendation from don Juan to the king. But the ship on which he sailed was captured by corsairs and taken to Algiers. There Cervantes spent five years as a slave to harsh masters. Several times he, with other Spaniards taken as slaves, tried to escape, showing in these attempts unshakable courage and high nobility. But they all ended in failure, and each time the position of Cervantes became worse; he was put in chains and taken to interrogations. The Muslim mob scolded and beat him; from interrogations they took him to the dungeon. Memories of experiences experienced during the years of military service and slavery are quite common in the works of Cervantes. Persiles and Sigismund reflects the impressions of his wanderings in Spain, Portugal, Italy; in Don Quixote, the episode recounted in the short story about the prisoner depicts his life in slavery.

Portrait of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. 1600

Cervantes' mother, who was already a widow at that time, donated her small property to ransom her son, and he (in 1580) returned to his homeland. His comrades in slavery were sad when they parted from him, because he was their adviser and comforter. Having neither money nor patrons, he did not find himself any other way to live, except for going back to work. military service. Cervantes was in the Spanish army, who went to Lisbon, participated in an expedition that sailed to conquer the Azores; he always had a love for Portugal.

Returning to Spain, he chose poetry as his main occupation; Cervantes wrote from his youth, he even wrote in Algerian dungeons, but only now literary activity became his profession. Under the influence of Montemayor and "Diana" Gil Polo, he wrote a shepherd's novel "Galatea" and dedicated this "first fruit of his feeble mind" to the son of the Column under whose command he fought in the East. This work is rich in reminiscences from the life of the author and inserts of poems in Spanish and Italian tastes; but it met with little success. In Don Quixote, when the barber reads the title of this book, the priest says: "Cervantes has been my friend for a long time, and I know that he is more skilled at enduring adversity than at writing poetry." The novel was left unfinished; but it has a close relation to the life of the author. Under the name of Galatea, it is believed that the girl whom Cervantes loved and whom he married soon after (in 1584) is depicted. She was from a good family who lived in Esquivias (near Madrid) and always remained a loving wife. But she had no dowry, so Cervantes and she endured poverty.

He began to write for the theater, hoping to receive a livelihood through this; wrote, as we know from him, 20 or 30 plays. But only two of them have come down to us; not even the comedy Lost, which he called his best drama in Journey to Parnassus, has survived. Those two plays that have come down to us were found and printed only two hundred years after his death. One of them, "Life in Algiers" (El trato de Argel), is borrowed from the personal life of the author; another depicting doom of Numantia, imbued with a patriotic feeling; both have good pathetic scenes, but on the whole neither has artistic merit. Cervantes could not be Lope de Vega's rival.

Oppressed by poverty, he left for Seville, where he received a position with a small salary in the financial department. He applied for a position in America, but to no avail. Cervantes lived in Seville for ten years, and we have little information about him over the years. He was probably still in need, because the income from his position as Provisional Commissioner of the Indian Navy was meager and unreliable, and besides himself and his wife, he had to support his sister, who gave her small share of her father's inheritance to ransom him from African slavery. At that time he wrote several sonnets and other poems: perhaps then he wrote the short stories "The Spanish Woman in England" and "Rinconet and Cortadilla". But if this is so, after all, he wrote very little in these ten years. But he, in all likelihood, made many observations on the characters of people in Seville, the center of relations between Spain and America; adventurers flocked there from all over Western Europe, and one could hear from them about many different adventures. At the same time, Cervantes studied Andalusian customs, the descriptions of which are found in his following works. Life with the cheerful citizens of Seville, who loved jokes, probably contributed to the development of jocularity in his works. At the beginning of the 17th century, we find Cervantes living in Valladolid, where the court was then seated. He seems to be in need. The sources of his income were business assignments of private people and literary work. Once, a night duel took place near his house, in which one of the courtiers who fought with each other was killed. Cervantes was interrogated at the trial in this case, and he spent some time under arrest, as suspected of some kind of complicity or withholding information about the course of the quarrel.

The first part of Don Quixote

At this time, he began to write a great novel, which gave immortality to his name. In 1605, the first part of Don Quixote was printed in Madrid, and the public liked it so much that in the same year several new editions of it appeared in Madrid and some provincial towns. (See articles Cervantes "Don Quixote" - summary and analysis, Image of Don Quixote, Image of Sancho Panza.) In the next five years, 11 more editions appeared, and during the life of Cervantes, translations into other Western languages ​​\u200b\u200bappeared. But, despite the brilliant success of Don Quixote, Cervantes spent the last ten years of his life in poverty, although fame brought him the patronage of the Count of Lemos and the Archbishop of Toledo. Lope de Vega, who was then the object of admiration of the Spanish public, apparently looked with contempt on the poor Cervantes, although he did not stand on ceremony to make many borrowings from his dramatic works. Cervantes was probably offended by Lope de Vega's arrogance; but in his good nature and nobility never expressed hostility towards him. Lope de Vega, for his part, was careful not to speak disrespectfully of him. When they mention one another, they always express themselves kindly, although coldly.

"Instructive Novels" by Cervantes

In 1613, Cervantes published his Instructive Novels, the contents of which, as he himself says, are borrowed from his own memoirs. They are less exciting than The Decameron, but rich great descriptions manners and nature; in the liveliness of these images, Cervantes is superior to all Spanish writers. The short story "Gypsy of Madrid", the content of which served as material for the libretto famous opera Weber's Preziosa, with charming liveliness, depicts the life of the nobles and the common people. There are many songs inserted in this novella; "The Magnanimous Lover" reproduces the impressions of the Algerian slavery of Cervantes; the action of this novel has been transferred to Cyprus. "Rinconet and Cortadilla" - a series of paintings from the life of itinerant people in southern Spain. Such is the content of "A Conversation of Two Dogs," a short story that represents the Spanish combination of fraudulent tricks with the diligent performance of religious rites. "The Spanish Woman in England" is a story about a Spanish girl captured by the British during the capture and robbery of Cadiz by Admiral Howard and the Count Essex. These short stories are exactly the same as The Jealous Extremaduran. "The Power of Blood", "False Marriage", "Vidrier's Lucentiat" and all the other stories in Cervantes's collection admirably portray folk life in Andalusia. They were the best Spanish novels and are still unparalleled in Spanish literature.

Poems, dramas and sideshows by Cervantes

After the collection of short stories, Cervantes published Journey to Parnassus satirical poem, written in tercines; its content is the evaluation of works contemporary poets. Cervantes speaks of himself with cheerful humor and judges his works very correctly. Mercury, who judges him, rightly mentions that the dignity of his dramas and novels was not sufficiently appreciated by the public. Cervantes wanted to prove to her that in vain she remained indifferent to his former plays, addicted exclusively to Lope de Vega; he has now published eight new dramas and eight interludes. Almost all dramas have three acts (Jornadas), in each there are many characters, among them there is certainly a jester or some other amusing person. Particularly good are "Life in Algiers", "The Brave Spaniard", "Sultana", "Happy Villain" (repentant of those bad deeds), "Labyrinth of Love", they have many fascinating scenes. Sideshows are small merry pieces played during intermissions. The best of them are "Attentive sentry" and "Jealous old man" (an adaptation of the short story "Jealous Extremadurian"), "Salamanca Cave"; but all other sideshows are very funny and realistic. But for all the merits of his plays, Cervantes did not gain fame among his contemporaries as a playwright.

Second part of Don Quixote

In the preface to the collection of short stories, Cervantes says that he is publishing the second part of Don Quixote; but while he was writing it, a book appeared under the title The Second Part of Don Quixote, Knight of La Mancha. Its author disappeared under the pseudonym Alonso Fernando de Avellaneda. Avellaneda's book has good places, but it is far inferior in dignity to Cervantes' novel. In the preface, Avellaneda rudely mocks Cervantes, speaks with vulgar mockery about his old age and poverty, even laughs at the wounds he received in the war with the infidels. The appearance of Avellaneda's book forced Cervantes to hasten the finishing of the second part of his novel. He published it in 1615. The remarks made by Sancho Panza about the book of Avelland indicate that Cervantes was indignant at this forgery. Written by a sick old man, the second part of Don Quixote equals the freshness and strength of the brilliant creativity of the first. The old man who wrote this story, in which there are so many jokes and gaiety, suffered from illness and poverty, felt the closeness of death.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Monument in Plaza de España in Madrid, 1930

The meaning of "Don Quixote" in world literature

More than two and a half centuries have passed since the appearance of Don Quixote by Cervantes, and to this day it remains one of the favorite books of all civilized nations; there is hardly any other novel that has received such a strong and wide popularity. Morals have completely changed since that time, and Don Quixote still retains the interest of living modernity. This is because, under the form of a joke, it contains a picture of eternal hobbies. human heart and eternal wisdom. In order to understand the form of this book, we must remember that chivalric ideas, long dead in other countries, were still alive in Cervantes' Spain, that conquests in the New World kept the Spaniards inclined towards fantastic aspirations, that the Amadis novels were still the favorite reading of the Spaniards. that not only the Spaniards, but also other peoples still believed the tales of Eldorado and the source that gives eternal youth. Novels of Amadis and other heroes fighting giants and evil wizards were so beloved in Spain that Kings Charles V and Philip II felt it necessary to ban these books. Castilian Cortes(Parliament) in 1555 decided that the "Amadis" and similar "false books, which young men and women deal with, considering the absurdities told in them to be true, so that they speak and write in the style of these books" should be destroyed. Don Quixote was needed to stop this medieval fantasy. And indeed he stopped it. New novels in the style of Amadis did not appear after him. The former ones were still being reprinted, but this too soon ended.

"The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismund" by Cervantes

Shortly after the second part of Don Quixote, Cervantes finished his novel The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismund. In the dedication of this book to Count Lemos, Cervantes says that he expects an imminent death, and the playful preface ends with the words: “Fare the jokes, farewell the merry friends; I feel like I'm dying; and my only wish is to see you happily in another life.” Four days after he wrote these words, he died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 69. By the digit of the date and month, this seems to be the same day that Shakespeare died; but the English then still held to the old style, and in Spain a new one had already been introduced. In the 17th century, the style difference was 10 days; so the English poet died ten days later than the Spanish.

"Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismund" - a series of adventures taking place in different countries and at sea; geography and history in this novel is a mixture of fantasy and truth. The book was published after the death of the author (in 1517). “The wanderings of Persiles and Sigismund,” says the literary critic Rosencrantz, “a series of stories about the amazing adventures of these individuals. Persiles, second son of the king of Iceland; Sigismund is the only daughter and heiress of the Queen of Friesland. She was betrothed to Persiles' brother Maximinus, a rude man. He could not please a meek, noble beauty; she fell in love with Persiles. They run away, they want to go to Rome, to beg the pope to release Sigismund from the promise she made to her former fiancé. Persiles calls himself Periander, Sigismund - Avristela, so that the chase would not find them by their true names. They pretend to be brother and sister; their true names and relations are revealed to the reader only at the end of the book. On the way to Rome, they suffer all sorts of troubles, fall into different lands; more than once they are taken prisoner by savages and want to devour them; villains try to kill or poison. They are shipwrecked several times, many times fate separates them. But the kidnappers quarrel among themselves for possession of them, fight and die. Finally, the lovers reach Rome and receive permission from the pope to marry. fabulous geography and fantasy story, serving as the setting for the adventures of Persiles and Sigismund, gave reason to reproach Cervantes for writing a book similar to the knightly novels about Amadis which he laughed at. But it's not fair. The fantastic setting in his novel is a secondary element. The true content consists in depicting the feelings of the human heart, and it is true.

Miguel de Cervantes is a world-famous Spanish writer, playwright, poet and military man. The greatest popularity was brought to him by the novel The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha, which is considered one of the greatest works in the world classics.

Cervantes has many interesting and unusual moments that you can learn about right now.

So in front of you short biography Miguel Cervantes.

Biography of Cervantes

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born on September 29, 1547 in Alcale de Henares, Spain. He grew up in a simple family, descended from a noble family.

His father, Rodrigo de Cervantes, worked as a doctor. Mother, Leonor de Cortina, was the daughter of a bankrupt nobleman. In addition to Miguel, Cervantes' parents had six more children.

Childhood and youth

It is worth noting that we do not know much about the first years of Miguel Cervantes' life. It is known that elementary education he received in different schools due to the frequent relocation of his family.

Upon reaching the age of 22, Cervantes became an accidental participant in a street fight, as a result of which he had to leave the country to avoid criminal prosecution.

He went to Italy, where he soon found himself in the retinue of Cardinal Acquaviva. It played important role in his biography.

According to some sources, by 1570 Miguel Cervantes had become a marine in Spain. In 1971, Cervantes participated in a bloody battle near Lepanto. In this battle, he was severely wounded in his left arm, which remained motionless for the rest of his life.

An interesting fact is that, having recovered from his wound, Cervantes continued to serve in the navy. The writer repeatedly visited various sea expeditions and even took part in the assault on Navarino.

Captivity and release

These letters were supposed to help the brave soldier get a promotion. However, this was not destined to happen, since a sharp turn took place in the biography of Cervantes.

Returning to his homeland in the autumn of 1575, Algerian corsairs attacked the galley of Miguel Cervantes, after which the future writer, along with his colleagues, was captured.

Miguel Cervantes was enslaved by pirates for 5 years. And although he repeatedly tried to make escapes, they all ended in failure.

The time spent in captivity seriously influenced his biography in general, and the formation of his personality in particular.

In the future, Cervantes will describe all kinds of bullying, which the heroes of his works are regularly subjected to. This is not surprising, because Cervantes knew firsthand about all this.

In 1580, in order to redeem her son from captivity, Miguel's mother sold everything she had. Thanks to this, the writer was free and was able to return home.

Creative biography of Cervantes

On December 12, 1584, Cervantes married 19-year-old Catalina Palacios de Salazar, from whom he received a small dowry. Interestingly, during this period of his biography, his illegitimate daughter Isabel was born.

Soon the Cervantes family began to experience serious financial difficulties, which is why Miguel went back to work. He was a member of the campaign to Lisbon, and also participated in the battles to conquer the Azov Islands.

Returning home, Cervantes seriously engaged in writing. An interesting fact is that he began to compose the first poems and plays during his captivity.

Cervantes' first novel, entitled Galatea, brought him some popularity, but money was still sorely lacking. He had practically nothing to support his family.

Works by Cervantes

Experiencing financial difficulties, Miguel Cervantes decided to leave for Seville. In this city, he received a position in one financial department.

And although the payment for his work was not so great, he believed that soon his financial situation would change for the better. The writer also hoped that he could be transferred to work in America, but this never happened.

As a result, having lived in Seville for 10 years, Cervantes failed to make any fortune. During this period of his biography, he wrote the short stories Rinconet and Cortadilla and The Spanish Woman in England. In addition, several poems and sonnets came out from under his pen.

Don Quixote Cervantes

At the beginning of the 17th century, Cervantes moved to live in Valladolid. There he made a living doing various assignments from private individuals, as well as writing.

Biographers of Cervantes claim that he once witnessed a duel in which one of the opponents was mortally wounded. As a result of this incident, Miguel was summoned to court, and then kept in prison until all the circumstances of the case were clarified.

One of Cervantes' personal notes contains information that it was in prison that he wanted to write a work about a man who, having lost his mind from reading books about knights, went to perform various feats.

After being released, Miguel began writing the novel Don Quixote, which would make him one of the most popular authors in the world.

Many wanted to buy a book whose hero was so liked by the common people. Later, the novel began to be translated into different languages ​​of the world.

last years of life

In 1606 Miguel de Cervantes left for Madrid. An interesting fact is that having received great fame and being at the peak of his popularity, he still needed money.

In 1615, the 2nd part of the novel "Don Quixote" was published. Shortly before his death, he completed the writing of the book The Wanderings of Persiles and Sichismunda.

Death

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra died on April 22, 1616 in Madrid. An interesting fact is that a few days before his death, he decided to take the veil as a monk.

It is still not known exactly where he is buried. great writer. A number of biographers of Cervantes believe that his grave is located on the territory of one of the Spanish temples.

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Born in Alcala de Henares (prov. Madrid). His father, Hidalgo Rodrigo de Cervantes, was a modest surgeon, his mother, Doña Leonor de Cortina; their large family constantly lived in poverty, which did not leave the future writer throughout his sad life. Very little is known about early stages his life.

Biography

Military career

Miguel Cervantes participated in military campaigns in Italy (he was in Naples), Navarino (1572), Tunisia, Portugal, in naval battles (Lepanto, 1571), and also carried out business trips to Oran (1580s); served in Seville.

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 captivity) 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.

On the way back to Spain from Naples, he was captured by Algeria, where he 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.

In Algerian captivity

Father Rodrigo de Cervantes, according to his petition of March 17, 1578, indicated that his son "was captured in the galley 'Sun' (la Galera del Sol), under the command of Carrillo de Quesada", and that he "was wounded by two shot 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, in connection with the previously carried out ransom from captivity of his other son, who was also on that ship. 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) by 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 deed confirming Cervantes' merits before 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 1580s.

Service in Seville

By order of the Marquis de Santa Cruz was transferred to Seville. At the same time, his brother remained in the service of the Marquis. In Seville, he handled the affairs of the Navy 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 President 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".

Miguel de Cervantes about himself

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 hooked, though regular 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 good color face, rather light 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, composed 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. In 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 who were known in past centuries and which may happen in the 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 short stories. Translation from Spanish by B. Krzhevsky. Moscow. Publishing house " Fiction". 1982).

Personal life

Miguel was married to Catalina Palacios de Salazar. He had one illegitimate daughter - Isabel de Cervantes.

Character

The best of Cervantes' biographers, Schall, characterized 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 an unselfish 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 carelessly 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, Galatea (1585), is followed by a large number of dramatic plays with little 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. In the performance of these duties, he suffers great setbacks, even gets on trial and spends some time in prison. 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 while not printing 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 23, 1616, life ended (he died of dropsy), which the carrier 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.”

Consequences

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 for a long time, since there was not even an inscription on his tomb (in one of the churches). A monument to him 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."

global importance 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 inalienable 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 a knight is subjected - with some anti-artistic literary terms, - is one of best expressions 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

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

Memory

• A crater on Mercury is named after Cervantes.
• Released in 1966 Postage Stamp USSR dedicated to Cervantes.
• Plaza de España in Madrid decorates sculptural composition, the central figure that is Cervantes and his most famous heroes.

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. The Valladolid period includes school years Miguel. 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 became somewhat later than him. godfather in literature.

By the end of the sixties 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 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 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 ancient literature- Homer, Virgil, Horace, Ovid and others, as well as the writers mentioned above Italian Renaissance characters are listed Holy Scripture and Eastern (Arabic) writing. Cervantes' worldview was influenced by the ideas of Erasmus of Rotterdam; he was a remarkable connoisseur of national Spanish Literature, folk poetry (romances) and national folklore in general.

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 became part of expeditionary corps 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 chained, but thanks to the letters of recommendation Juan of Austria, 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 reports led to clashes with authorities financial control, 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 passed in legal order to the treasury the entire balance of the arrears collected by him, the treasury, accusing him of concealment, filed a suit of considerable size against him. 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. New imprisonment all in the same case of concealment of sums 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. It was all I gave royalty"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 known more for his suffering in Algerian captivity than literary fame, a person already elderly, besides a disabled person.

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 the 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 load, 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 come down to 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 outstanding writer was staged in Madrid in 1835.