CERVANTES

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.