Biography of Cervantes. World-famous Spanish writer

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is a world-famous writer, from whose pen came stories about the "heroic" exploits of Don Quixote and the wanderings of Persis and Sichismunda. All his works laconically combine realism and romance, lyricism and comedy.

The beginning of the life path

Biography of Cervantes began on September 29, 1547. His parents did not have a special income. His father's name was Rodrigo de Cervantes, he was a surgeon. Mother's name is Leonor de Cortinas.

Education young Miguel first received in his hometown of Alcalá de Henares, then due to numerous trips he studied at schools in several other cities, such as Madrid, Salamanca. In 1569 he became an accidental participant in a street fight and was persecuted by the authorities. Because of this, Cervantes was forced to flee the country. First he went to Italy, where for several years he was a member of the suite of Cardinal Akvaviva. It is known that after a while he enlisted in the army. Among other fighters, he took part in the fiercest sea battle near Lepanto (7/10/1571). Cervantes survived, but was seriously injured in the forearm, as a result of which the left arm remained immobilized for life. Recovering from injury, he repeatedly visited other marine expeditions, including being a participant in the storming of Navarin.

Captivity

It is known for certain that in 1575 Cervantes left Italy and went to Spain. The commander-in-chief of the Spanish army in Italy, Juan of Austria, presented a valiant fighter with a letter of recommendation, with which the future writer hoped to get a good place in the ranks of the Spanish army. But this was not meant to happen. Algerian pirates attacked the galley on which Cervantes was sailing. The entire crew and passengers were taken prisoner. Among the unfortunate was and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. He was in harsh conditions of slavery for five years. Together with other prisoners, he made many attempts to escape, but each time they ended unsuccessfully. These five years left an indelible imprint on the worldview of the writer. Mentions of torture and torture are often found in his works. So, in the novel "Don Quixote" there is a short story about a captive who was kept in chains for a long time and tortured with unbearable tortures. In it, the writer illustrates his own life in slavery.

Release

Mother Cervantes, who had already been widowed by then, had sold all her small possessions in order to redeem her son. In 1580 he returned to his native city. Many of his comrades who remained in captivity were distressed by the fact that the adviser and comforter, who supported all in the most difficult moments, left them. It was his human qualities, his ability to persuade and to console him, that made him the patron of unhappy people who were in slavery.

The first works

After spending several years in Madrid, Toledo and Esquivias, he managed to marry Catalina de Palacios (December 1584) and acquire an illegitimate daughter from Ana Franca de Rojas.

Cervantes did not have any means of subsistence, so there was nothing left for him to do again to go to military service. During this period, the future Spanish writer was one of the participants in the campaign to Lisbon, participated in the military campaign to conquer the Azov Islands.

After retiring from the service, he took up poetry. And before that, being in the Algerian captivity, he was going to write poetry and write plays, but now this occupation became the meaning of his life. His first works were not successful. One of the earliest works of Cervantes was the tragedy "Numancia" and the comedy "Algerian customs". The novel "Galatea", which was published in 1585, brought Miguel fame, but he did not become richer. The financial situation remained deplorable.

10 years in Seville

Under the yoke of poverty, Miguel Cervantes leaves for Seville. There he gets a position in the financial department. The gratification was small, but the writer hoped that in the near future he would get a position in America. However, this did not happen. After living in Seville for 10 years, he could not make a fortune. First, as a provincial commissioner for the Indian fleet, he received a meager salary. Secondly, some of it went to the maintenance of the sister, who gave her part of the inheritance in order to redeem the brother from the Algerian captivity. The works of that time include novels "Hispanic in England", "Rinconet and Cortadilla", as well as single poems and sonnets. It should be noted that it was the merry nature of the indigenous inhabitants of Seville that led to the appearance of a kind of comic and joking in his works.

The birth of "Don Quixote"

Biography of Cervantes continued Valladolid, where he moved to the beginning of the XVII century. At this time there was the residence of the court. The means of subsistence was still not enough. Miguel earned money by carrying out business assignments of private individuals and literary work. There is evidence that one day he became an involuntary witness of a duel that took place near his house, during which one of the courtiers died. Cervantes was summoned to court, he was even arrested, because they suspected of complicity and withholding from the investigation information about the causes and course of the quarrel. He spent some time in prison while the proceedings were underway.

One of the memoirs contains information that it was under arrest, while in prison, that the Spanish writer conceived the idea to write a humorous work about a man who "went crazy" from reading novels about knights, and went to perform knightly deeds in order to look like the heroes of his favorite books .

Initially, the work was conceived as a short story. When released from custody Cervantes began work on his main creation, there were new thoughts about the development of the plot, which he put into practice. So "Don Quixote" became a novel.

Publication of the main novel

In the middle of 1604, after completing the work on the book, Cervantes begins to work on her publication. To do this, he contacted the bookseller Robles, who became the first publisher of the great creation. "The clever hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" was printed at the end of 1604.

The circulation was small and sold almost immediately. And in the spring months of 1605 the second edition appeared, which had a stunning success. Don Quixote and Sancho Panza have become some of the most beloved characters of the entire Spanish people, and also learned about them in other countries, as the novel was translated and published in other languages. These heroes became participants in carnival processions in all Spanish cities.

The last decade of life

1606 will be marked for the writer by moving to Madrid. Despite the overwhelming success of Don Quixote, Cervantes continued to need. Under his care were his wife, sister and illegitimate daughter Isabel, who after the death of her mother began to live with her father.

Many of the works of Cervantes were written during this period. This and most of the stories that were included in the collection of "Educational novels" (1613) and poetic literary satire "Journey to Parnassus" (1614). Also in the last decade of his life he composed many new ones and revised several old plays. They are collected in the book "Eight comedies and eight interludes." "The wanderings of Persilius and Sikhismunda" were also started in this period.

Biography of Cervantes is not fully known. There are many dark spots in it. In particular, there is no information as to when he began work on the second part of Don Quixote. Most likely, the creation of a writer inspired the writing of a certain A. Fernandez de Avellaneda false - "Don Quixote", which continued the plot line of the novel by Cervantes. This forgery contained many gross obscenities to the author and the characters of the book, presenting them in a bad light.

This second part of the novel was published in 1615. And in 1637 both parts of the genius literary creation for the first time come out under one cover.

Already at death, the writer dictates the prologue to the novel "The Wanderings of Persioles and Sichismunda", which was published after his death in 1617.

A few days before the departure of life Cervantes was tonsured as a monk. He died on April 23, 1616 in Madrid. The burial was committed at the expense of the Franciscan Order. The exact location of the burial is unknown, but most researchers believe that it was buried in the territory of one of the Spanish monasteries. Monument to the great writer was erected in 1835 in Madrid.
The biography of Cervantes proves how self-effacing the desire of man to fulfill his calling can be. Despite the fact that literary creativity never brought him big profits, this great writer continued his life all his life. As a result, his works became part of the cultural heritage of those distant centuries. And now, after so much time, his novels, novels and plays are relevant and popular.