Cervantes is one of the best known writers of the world and a Spanish
icon. It is considered by many to be the first modern novelist.
His
life wasn’t easy: he fought in the Gulf of Lepanto, where he was
wounded in his left hand and that's how he earned the nickname "El manco
de Lepanto". After that, he continued fighting in the Mediterranean.
When he came back to Spain in 1575 his ship was captured by
pirates and he was taken as a slave in Algiers until 1580. but when he
come back to Spain his life wasn’t better as he always had economic
problems. His most known novel is Don Quixote, which has had an amazing
influence on later literature. It is believed that its influence can be
seen in such writers as Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, Benito Perez
Galdos and in painters like William Hogarth and Pablo Picasso.
Cervantes' fame was far greater in death than in life.
It has
been a year since the searchers found Cervantes's tomb, nowadays his
remains rest in the new monument in his honor in the church of San
Ildefonso of the convent of the Trinitarias of Madrid, where a ceremony
was held in his honor attended by important politicians.
In my
view Cervantes and Shakespeare have had an enormous influence until now (
in contemporary novel, theater, films and TV series) since both of them
are two universal icons of literature. I reckon it is absurd to compare
them since both are just as good.