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merit. It was, however, as a novelist that
Cervantes achieved his reputation. As early
as 1585 he wrote a pastoral novel ( La
Galatea ), a form very much in vogue.
Although rather imitative, La Galatea appar-
ently retained a place in his regard, for he
was still contemplating a sequel in the last
years of his life. His 12 Novelas ejemplares
( Exemplary Tales, 1613) were both popular
in their day and critically admired in later
generations. They reflect an understanding
of the varieties of human experience and a
positive response to its vicissitudes that
clearly grew out of his own physical wan-
derings and emotional ups and downs. But
it is, of course, his masterpiece, El ingenioso
hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha, that has
raised him to the stature of one of the
world's greatest writers and, in the estima-
tion of many, the first true novelist.
Published in what are usually referred to
as two parts in 1605 and 1615, respectively,
Don Quixote (or Don Quijote in modern Span-
ish) is actually two separate novels. In Part
I a small-town middle-aged gentleman,
Alonso Quijano, overexcited by his endless
reading of chivalric tales, assumes the name
Don Quixote de la Mancha (his home prov-
ince) and sets out as a knight errant in what
was believed to be the medieval tradition of
righting wrongs and rescuing damsels in
distress. He persuades a peasant named
Sancho Panza to accompany him as his
squire (a role in which Sancho has become
virtually as famous as his master) and dedi-
cates himself to exalting the name and fame
of his chosen lady, Dulcinea del Toboso
(who is, in fact, a glorified version of a
young woman of a neighboring town to
whom he has never actually spoken). Don
Quixote's encounters and adventures as he
and Sancho travel across the countryside
are a mixture of tragicomic blunders, high-
minded exhortations by one whose mind is
clearly out of joint, and populist pragma-
tism from Sancho. Don Quixote encounters
bemused courtesy from some of those
whom he meets and violence from others
who have no time to waste on what they
regard as a madman. He is also trailed by
sympathetic friends who attempt to banish
his delusions and bring him safely home.
Eventually, after an odyssey that has given
to the reader a remarkable picture of 17th-
century Spain, the don is lured back to
home and family. So enthusiastically
received was this account of Don Quixote's
misadventures and wisdom both in Spain
and abroad (where English, French, and
Italian editions soon appeared) that Cer-
vantes became a famous and respected
writer, whose Novelas ejemplares won seri-
ous attention, although he never became a
wealthy man from his writings.
Success brought with it problems, nota-
bly imitations and even theft of characters
by other writers, including a bogus sequel
published by a man using the pseudonym
of Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda in 1614.
Cervantes was so indignant over this theft
of his literary creation that he brought out
his own Part II in 1615. The story finds the
older but still potentially obsessed HIDALGO
slipping back into his chivalric fantasies.
Sancho, who has become more articulate
but still susceptible to grand promises, again
joins Don Quixote, and they set out on a
journey across Spain that is in some ways
more tightly plotted, with their adventures
pursuing a more orderly sequence (although
some readers prefer the free-wheeling
action of the first novel). Once again Don
Quixote is followed by those who wish to
restrain him and return him to his home,
 
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