Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is world-widea famous writer, from the pen of which there were 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 nativethe city of Alcalá de Henares, then due to numerous relocations 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 got to Italy, where for several years he was a member of the retinue 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 hand for life was immobilized. Recovering from injury, he repeatedly visited other marine expeditions, including being a participant in Navarin's assault.
Captivity
It is known for certain that in 1575 CervantesHe left Italy and went to Spain. The commander-in-chief of the Spanish army in Italy, Juan of Austria, handed a valiant fighter 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 destined 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 the 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.
Exemption
Mother Cervantes, who by then alreadywidowed, sold all her small property in order to redeem her son. In 1580, he returned to his hometown. Many of his comrades, remaining in captivity, lamented the fact that the counselor and comforter, who supported everyone in the most difficult moments, had left them. It was his human qualities, the ability to convince and comfort made him the patron saint 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 get an extramarital daughter from Ana Franca de Rojas.
There was no livelihood for Cervantes,so there was nothing to do but go back 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 leaving the service, he closely engaged in poetry.And before that, being in the Algerian captivity, he began to write poetry and compose plays, but now this occupation has become the meaning of his life. His first works were not successful. One of the earliest works by Cervantes was the tragedy Numancia and the comedy Algerian Morals. 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
Под гнетом бедности Мигель Сервантес уезжает в Seville. There he gets a position in the financial department. The salary was small, but the writer hoped that in the near future he would get a position in America. However, this did not happen. Having lived in Seville for 10 years, he was unable to make a fortune. First, as the Provisional Commissioner of the Indian Navy, he received a paltry salary. Secondly, some of it went to the maintenance of the sister, who gave her part of the inheritance in order to redeem her brother from the Algerian captivity. The works of that time include the novels “The Spaniard in England”, “Rinkonets and Cortadilla”, as well as single poems and sonnets. It should be noted that it was precisely the cheerful disposition of the indigenous people of Seville that led to the appearance of a certain comedy and playfulness in his works.
Birth of Don Quixote
Biography of Cervantes continued to Valladolid,where he moved in the beginning of the XVII century. At this time there was the residence of the courtyard. Livelihood is still not enough. Miguel earned money by doing business assignments for private people and literary work. There is information that once he became an unwitting witness of a duel that happened near his house, during which one of the courtiers was killed. Cervantes was summoned to court, he was even arrested, as he was suspected of complicity and withholding information about the causes and course of the quarrel from the investigation. He spent some time in prison while the proceedings were under way.
В одном из мемуаров содержится информация, что it was under arrest, while in prison, the Spanish writer decided to write a humorous work about a man who "went crazy" from reading novels about knights, and went to perform knightly feats to be like heroes of his favorite books.
Originally, the work was conceived as a short story.When released from arrest, Cervantes began work on his main creation, new ideas emerged about the development of the plot, which he implemented. So "Don Quixote" became a novel.
Edition of the main novel
In the middle of 1604, having finished work on a book,Cervantes begins to bother about its publication. To do this, he contacted the bookseller Robles, who became the first publisher of the great creation. "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" was printed at the end of 1604.
Last decade of life
The year 1606 will be marked for the writer by moving toMadrid. Despite the staggering 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.
Biography of Cervantes is not fully known.It has a lot of dark spots. In particular, there is no information about when he began work on the second part of Don Quixote. Most likely, the writer was inspired by the writing by a certain A. Fernandez de Avellanedo false “Don Quixote”, which continued the storyline of Cervantes' novel. This fake contained a lot of rude obscene statements about the author himself 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, for the first time, both parts of the brilliant literary work were published under the same cover.
Already in death, the writer dictates the prologue to the novel Wanderings of Persilles and Sihizmunds, which was published after his death in 1617.
A few days before the departure of the life of Cervantescut the hair in monks. He died on April 23, 1616 in Madrid. The burial was committed by the Franciscan order. The exact burial site is unknown, but most researchers believe that he was buried in the territory of one of the Spanish monasteries. The monument to the great writer was erected in 1835 in Madrid.
