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19 Apr 13
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Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra[b] (Spanish: [miˈɣel de θerˈβantes saaˈβeðɾa]; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616)[2] was a Spanish novelist,
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20 Dec 12
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04 May 09
Erin BruemmerA wikipedia description of Cervantes' life. I highlighted things that I thought were interesting, and relate to his writings.
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Spanish is often called la lengua de Cervantes
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In 1569, Cervantes moved to Italy, where he served as a valet to Giulio Acquaviva, a wealthy priest who was elevated to cardinal the next year. By then, Cervantes had enlisted as a soldier in a Spanish infantry regiment and continued his military life until 1575, when he was captured by Algerian pirates. He was ransomed from his captors by his parents and the Trinitarians. He returned to his family in Madrid.
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Cervantes worked as a purveyor for the Spanish Armada, and later as a tax collector. In 1597 discrepancies in his accounts of three years previous landed him in the Crown Jail of Seville.
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spent much of his childhood moving from town to town with his family
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he met a young barmaid, Josefina Catalina De Parez. The couple fell madly in love and plotted to run away together. Sadly her father discovered their plans and forbade Josefina from ever seeing Cervantes again
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In September 1571 Cervantes sailed on board the Marquesa, part of the galley fleet of the Holy League (a coalition of the Pope, Spain, Venice, Republic of Genoa, Duchy of Savoy, the Knights of Malta, and others, under the command of John of Austria) that defeated the Ottoman fleet on October 7 in the Gulf of Lepanto near Corinth. Though taken down with fever, Cervantes refused to stay below, and begged to be allowed to take part in the battle, saying that he would rather die for his God and his king than keep under cover. He fought bravely on board a vessel, and received three gunshot wounds – two in the chest, and one which rendered his left arm useless, resulting in amputation. In Journey to Parnassus he was to say that he "had lost the movement of the left hand for the glory of the right" (he was thinking of the success of the first part of Don Quixote). Cervantes always looked back on his conduct in the battle with pride: he believed that he had taken part in an event that would shape the course of European history.
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After five years spent as a slave in Algiers, and four unsuccessful escape attempts, he was ransomed by his parents
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this period of Cervantes' life supplied subject matter for several of his literary works, notably the Captive's tale in Don Quixote and the two plays set in Algiers – El Trato de Argel (The Treaty of Algiers) and Los Baños de Argel (The Baths of Algiers) – as well as episodes in a number of other writings, although never in straight autobiographical form.[2]
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If a remark which Cervantes himself makes in the prologue of Don Quixote is to be taken literally, the idea of the work (though hardly the writing of its First Part, as some have maintained) occurred to him in prison at Argamasilla de Alba in La Mancha. Cervantes' idea was to give a picture of real life and manners, and to express himself in clear language. The intrusion of everyday speech into a literary context was acclaimed by the reading public.
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Don Quixote certainly reveals much narrative power, considerable humor, a mastery of dialogue, and a forceful style. Of the two parts written by Cervantes, the first is the more popular with the general public – containing the famous episodes of the tilting at windmills, the attack on the flock of sheep, the vigil in the courtyard of the inn, and the episode with the barber and the shaving basin. The second part is inferior in humorous effect, but shows more constructive insight, better delineation of character, improved style, and more realism and probability in its action
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the novel also allows Cervantes to illuminate various aspects of human nature, by using the ridiculous example of the delusional Quixote.
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Cervantes felt a passion for the vivid painting of character. Don Quixote is noble-minded, an enthusiastic admirer of everything good and great, yet having all these fine qualities accidentally blended with a relative kind of madness
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it was long assumed that Cervantes was an Old Christian, more modern scholarship has increasingly concurred that he likely descended from a so-called converso background
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supported by circumstantial evidence, but would explain some mysteries of Cervantes' life
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05 Sep 07
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04 Jan 07
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