Wit and Wisdom of Don Quixote

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) was a Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright. His magnum opus, Don Quixote, is considered a founding classic of Western literature and regularly figures among the best novels ever written. He has been dubbed el Principe de los Ingenios - the Prince of Wits. In 1585, he published a pastoral novel, La Galatea. Because of financial problems, he worked as a purveyor for the Spanish Armada, and later as a tax collector. In 1605 he was in Valladolid, just when the immediate success of the first part of his Don Quixote, published in Madrid, signaled his return to the literary world. In 1607, he settled in Madrid, where he lived and worked until his death. During the last nine years of his life, he solidified his reputation as a writer; he published the Exemplary Novels (Novelas Ejemplares) in 1613 and the Journey to Parnassus (Viaje del Parnaso) in 1614. In 1615, he wrote Eight Plays and Eight New Interludes (Ocho Comedias y Ocho Entremeses) and the second part of Don Quixote.