Cervantes

by Jean Caravaggio

The life of Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, has always posed a puzzle to scholars: a tantalizing patchwork of myth, fact, and conjecture. We know that he was a soldier and later a tax collector; that he was maimed in battle at Lepanto and held prisoner of war by the Turks; that he was thrown in jail, and later excommunicated; that he vanished from view for years at a time; and that at the age of 57, in 1605, he published the masterpiece that was both the first modern novel and the first best seller.

431 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1997

Reviews

[Charles Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caravaggio strikes a good balance between erudition and accessibility, and between fact and conjecture. The result is a biography that is both informative and fascinating.