Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was a Spanish writer born in 1547 in Spain. He struggled financially as a child and served in the Spanish military, where he was captured by pirates and held as a slave for 5 years. In 1605, Cervantes published Don Quixote, considered one of the greatest works of Spanish literature and the first modern novel. Don Quixote follows the story of Alonso Quixano, who reads so many chivalric romances that he loses his sanity and decides to become a knight-errant. The novel has been interpreted in various ways such as a parody of chivalry or commentary on social class structures.

1. CONTEXTUAL
APPROACH
DON QUIXOTE
BY: BRITTNEY MONN

2. ALL ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
• Born: September 29, 1547
• He was born in Alcala de Henares, Spain
• He died April 23, 1616

3. CERVANTES- EARLY YEARS
• His father was a poor deaf Spanish Surgeon,
• They struggled financially, and moved around a lot
• He liked to read a lot as a child
• Spain at the time was changing from the being chivalrous to Spain becoming a powerful nation and
going into the renaissance.
• Spanish literature still was full of chivalry thought
• Which is thought to be why there is so much talk about Chivalry in Don Quixote

4. GOLDEN ERA
• The Golden Age was a time in Spanish Literature
• It was from 16th century to the late 17th century
• It was time for patriotic and religious freedoms
• It had realism and a new interest in epics
• This was the end of Chivalrous novels and pastoral novels.

5. MILITARY CAREER
• Cervantes joined the army when he was twenty-one and fought against Turkey as sea and then Italy on
land.
• In 1575, Cervantes was captured by pirates and was then sold as a slave to the Moors.
• He attempted to escape 3 times before he ransomed in 1580, when he returned to Spain.
• In late 1580s he worked as a commissary for the Spanish Armada.
• He collected taxes from many towns which led him to write about some of the people he saw.

6. CERVANTES: A WRITER?
• In 1605, Cervantes published the first volume of Don Quixote.
• This allowed him to finally achieve financial success
• Don Quixote became an instant success
• The first part was such a success it was quickly translated into English and French
• Avellaneda, an author, wrote a unauthorized sequel, due to the popularity of the novel.
• The sequel to Don Quixote was published in 1615.

7. DON QUIXOTE
• Many people enjoyed the book but there was a few people who did not
• The aristocracy did not like it because it basically made fun of the ideals they cherished.
• Don Quixote is considered to be one of the greatest and most important pieces of Spanish literature
• It was also the first modern novel.

8. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
• People have different interpretations of Don Quixote
• Some think of it as a parody of chivalry and how it is nothing like real love
• Or even how it makes fun of the social class structure
• Cervantes shows that there is actually similarities and differences between fantasy and real life.

9. WORKS CITED
• "Don Quijote de la Mancha, Cervantes - Spanish Literature | don Quijote." donQuijote. N.p., n.d. Web. .
<http://www.donquijote.org/spanishlanguage/literature/history/quijote>.
• "Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra." 2014. The Biography.com website. Apr 16
2014http://www.biography.com/people/miguel-de-cervantes-9242997.