This is where ‘Don Quixote’ was conceived and Cervantes began to write one of the greatest novels in Renaissance literature. His ‘impossible dream’ was created inside this prison cell!
‘Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra … 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world’s pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his novel Don Quixote, a work considered as the first modern novel. The novel has been labelled by many well-known authors as the “best book of all time” and the “best and most central work in world literature”.
Much of his life was spent in relative poverty and obscurity, which led to many of his early works being lost. Despite this, his influence and literary contribution are reflected by the fact that Spanish is often referred to as “the language of Cervantes”.
In 1569, Cervantes was forced to leave Spain and move to Rome, where he worked in the household of a cardinal. In 1570, he enlisted in a Spanish Navy infantry regiment, and was badly wounded at the Battle of Lepanto in October 1571 and lost the use of his left arm and hand. He served as a soldier until 1575, when he was captured by Barbary pirates; after five years in captivity, he was ransomed, and returned to Madrid.
His first significant novel, titled La Galatea, was published in 1585, but he continued to work as a purchasing agent, and later as a government tax collector. Part One of Don Quixote was published in 1605, and Part Two in 1615. Other works include the 12 Novelas ejemplares (Exemplary Novels); a long poem, the Viaje del Parnaso (Journey to Parnassus); and Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses (Eight Plays and Eight Interludes). The novel Los trabajos de Persiles y Sigismunda (The Travails of Persiles and Sigismunda), was published posthumously in 1616.
The cave of Medrano (also known as the casa de Medrano) in Argamasilla de Alba, which has been known since the beginning of the 17th century, and according to the tradition of Argamasilla de Alba, was the prison of Cervantes, [is] the place where he conceived and began to write Don Quixote.’ (Wikipedia).
For your Easter reading, if you have not read Don Quixote, I recommend the English translation by John Rutherford. In this masterpiece Cervantes experimented with various literary devices including humour.
Written during the Catholic ‘Inquisition’ in Spain, subtly woven into the fabic of what on the surface appears to be a comic story, is a profound moral tale, that resonates today.
For Cervantes, who was born into the ‘Golden’ era, when Spain dominated the world, experienced what it meant to be a citizen of the most powerful nation on earth, only to endure a lifetime of watching this ‘super-power’ fall and decline against the discontentment of its people.
In spite of the unimaginable hardships endured by Cervantes inside this prison cell – ‘Genius’ triumphed over Adversity.’
The result – a literary legacy for all mankind that has withstood the test of time and remains relevant today.
That is the power of imagination and words!