CERVANTES, MIGUEL DE

born September 29?, 1547, Alcal de Henares, Spain died April 22, 1616, Madrid in full Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra Spanish novelist, playwright, and poet, the creator of Don Quixote (1605, 1615) and the most important and celebrated figure in Spanish literature. His novel Don Quixote has been translated, in full or in part, into more than 60 languages. Editions continue regularly to be printed, and critical discussion of the work has proceeded unabated since the 18th century. At the same time, owing to their widespread representation in art, drama, and film, the figures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza are probably familiar visually to more people than any other imaginary characters in world literature. Cervantes was a great experimenter. He tried his hand in all the major literary genres save the epic. He was a notable short-story writer, and a few of those in his collection of Novelas exemplares (1613; Exemplary Stories) attain a level close to that of Don Quixote, on a miniature scale. Cervantes was born some 20 miles from Madrid, probably on September 29 (the day of San Miguel). He was certainly baptized on October 9. He was the fourth of seven children in a family whose origins were of the minor gentry but which had come down in the world. His father was a barber-surgeon who set bones, performed bloodlettings, and attended lesser medical needs. The family moved from town to town, and little is known of Cervantes's early education. The supposition, based on a passage in one of the Exemplary Stories, that he studied for a time under the Jesuits, though not unlikely, remains conjectural. Unlike most Spanish writers of his time, including some of humble origin, he apparently did not go to a university. What is certain is that at some stage he became an avid reader of books. The head of a municipal school in Madrid, a man with Erasmist intellectual leanings named Juan Lpez de Hoyos, refers to a Miguel de Cervantes as his beloved pupil. This was in 1569, when the future author was 21, soif this was the same Cervanteshe must either have been a pupil-teacher at the school or have studied earlier under Lpez de Hoyos. His first published poem, on the death of Philip II's young queen, Elizabeth of Valois, appeared at this time. Edward C. Riley Anne Cruz Edward C. Riley Anne Cruz Additional reading Biography Luis Astrana Marn, Vida ejemplar y heroica de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 7 vol. (194858), is a detailed and copiously documented biography, but it is available only in Spanish. English-language biographies include William Byron, Cervantes (1978, reprinted 1988), entertaining if speculative; Melveena McKendrick, Cervantes (1980), an excellent study; and Jean Canavaggio, Cervantes (1990; originally published in French, 1986), the most reliable of these. Criticism General E.C. Riley, Cervantes's Theory of the Novel (1962, reissued 1992), examines his poetics and literary practice. Lowry Nelson, Jr. (ed.), Cervantes: A Collection of Critical Essays (1969), is an anthology by leading humanists. A major work on Cervantes and Renaissance literary theory is Alban K. Forcione, Cervantes, Aristotle, and the Persiles (1970). P.E. Russell, Cervantes (1985), gives a brief, excellent summary. Classical studies by European philosophers, among others, can be found in Ruth El Saffar (ed.), Critical Essays on Cervantes (1986). Carroll B. Johnson, Don Quixote: The Quest for Modern Fiction (1990, reissued 2000), is a concise introduction to modern critical approaches. Steven Hutchinson, Cervantine Journeys (1992), discusses Cervantes's use of travel as metaphor. Various psychoanalytic approaches to Cervantes's works appear in Ruth Anthony El Saffar (Ruth El Saffar) and Diana de Armas Wilson (eds.), Quixotic Desire: Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Cervantes (1993). Anne J. Cruz and Carroll B. Johnson, Cervantes and His Postmodern Constituencies (1999), comprises discussions on the state of Cervantes studies at the turn of the 21st century. On Don Quixote Jos Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on Quixote (1961, reissued 2000; trans. from Spanish by Evelyn Rugg and Diego Martin), is an insightful and influential interpretation. English-language studies include Salvador de Madariaga, Don Quixote: An Introductory Essay in Psychology, rev. ed. (1961, reprinted 1966; originally published in Spanish); John J. Allen, Don Quixote, Hero or Fool: A Study in Narrative Technique, 2 vol. (196979), on themes and technique; Ruth El Saffar, Distance and Control in Don Quixote: A Study in Narrative Technique (1975), a seminal structuralist study; Jos Antonio Maravall, Utopia and Counterutopia in the Quixote (1991; originally published in Spanish, 1976), on historical ideological context; Anthony Close, The Romantic Approach to Don Quixote: A Critical History of the Romantic Tradition in Quixote Criticism (1978), a crucial study of modern criticism; Carroll B. Johnson, Madness and Lust: A Psychoanalytical Approach to Don Quixote (1983), Freudian insights on the protagonist; and Ruth El Saffar, Beyond Fiction: The Recovery of the Feminine in the Novels of Cervantes (1984), a feminist reading of Cervantes's female characters. Other English-language readings are Edwin Williamson, The Half-Way House of Fiction: Don Quixote and Arthurian Romance (1984), on the book's relationship with chivalric romance; James A. Parr, Don Quixote: An Anatomy of Subversive Discourse (1988), a study of the structure of the book's narrative; George Mariscal, Contradictory Subjects: Quevedo, Cervantes, and Seventeenth-Century Spanish Culture (1991), a neo-Marxist analysis of Cervantes's novels; Flix Martnez-Bonati, Don Quixote and the Poetics of the Novel (1992, trans. from Spanish), a philosophical approach to structural unity and content; Carroll B. Johnson, Cervantes and the Material World (2000), a revisionary materialist approach; and Diana de Armas Wilson, Cervantes, the Novel, and the New World (2000), on examination of the presence of the New World in Cervantes's novels. On Exemplary Novels Alban K. Forcione, Cervantes and the Humanist Vision: A Study of Four Exemplary Novels (1982), and Cervantes and the Mystery of Lawlessness: A Study of El casamiento engaoso y El coloquio de los perros (1984), are brilliant humanist interpretations. A collection of critical essays on several novellas appears in Michael Nerlich and Nicholas Spadaccini (eds.), Cervantes's Exemplary Novels' and the Adventure of Writing (1989). Theresa Ann Sears, A Marriage of Convenience: Ideal and Ideology in the Novelas ejemplares (1993), comprises feminist readings. On Persiles y Sigismunda Alban K. Forcione, Cervantes' Christian Romance: A Study of Persiles y Sigismunda (1972), presents a humanist view of romance. Diana de Armas Wilson, Allegories of Love: Cervantes's Persiles and Sigismunda (1991), gives a new framework for considering the novel in relation to other literatures besides Spanish. On Theatre Frederick A. de Armas, Cervantes, Raphael, and the Classics (1998), compares classical epic and Renaissance art with La Numancia. Bibliography A list of writings on Don Quixote is Dana B. Drake, Don Quijote (18941970): A Selective Annotated Bibliography, 4 vol. (197484). CD-ROM Miguel de Cervantes (1998), provides facsimile reproductions and transcriptions of first or early editions of all of Cervantes's works. It includes more than 160 illustrations, mainly from Francisco Lpez Fabra, Iconografa de Don Quixote (1879). Edward C. Riley Anne Cruz Major Works: Prose fiction Primera parte de la Galatea (1585; Galatea: A Pastoral Romance, trans. by Gordon Willoughby James Gyll, 1867); El ingenioso hidalgo Don Qvixote de la Mancha, and Segunda parte del ingenioso cavallero Don Qvixote de la Mancha (1605, 1615; The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-Errant Don Quixote of the Mancha, trans. by Thomas Shelton, 161220); Novelas exemplares (1613; Exemplarie Novells, trans. by Don Diego Puede-Ser [James Mabbe], 1640); Los trabaios de Persiles y Sigismunda, historia setentrional (1617; The Travels of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern History, 1619). Drama La Numancia (1784; Numantia, A Tragedy, trans. by Gordon Willoughby James Gyll, 1870); Ocho comedias, y ocho entremeses nuevos (1615; The Interludes of Cervantes, trans. by S. Griswold Morley, 1948). Poetry Viage del Parnaso (1614; Voyage to Parnassus, trans. by Gordon Willoughby James Gyll, 1870).Recommended editions include: The History of the Renown'd Don Quixote de la Mancha, trans. by Peter Motteux (170003); The Life and Exploits of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, trans. by Charles Jarvis (1742); The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote, trans. by Tobias Smollett (1755, reissued 1986); The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote de la Mancha, trans. by Samuel Putnam (1949); The Adventures of Don Quixote , trans. by J.M. Cohen (1950); Don Quixote: The Ormsby Translation Revised, Background and Sources, Criticism, ed. by Joseph R. Jones and Kenneth Douglas (1981); best modern Spanish annotated edition ed. by Luis Andrs Murillo, Don Quixote de la Mancha, 2nd ed. (1982); Exemplary Novels, trans. by N. Maccoll (1902). Selections include The Deceitful Marriage, and Other Exemplary Novels, trans. by Walter Starkie (1963); Exemplary Stories, trans. by C.A. Jones (1972); The Wanderings of Persiles and Sigismunda: A Northern Story, trans. by L.D. Stanley (1854); The Siege of Numantia, trans. by Roy Campbell (1959); Comedias y entremeses, ed. by Rodolfo Schevill and Adolfo Bonilla (191522), a modern Spanish edition; Interludes, trans. by Edwin Honig (1964); Journey to Parnassus, trans. by James Y. Gibson (1883). Complete works in Spanish in 1 vol., Obras completas, ed. by Angel Valbuena y Prat (1943).