Writers through the centuries - 16th Century authors

episode 2

"Our hours in love have wings, in absence crutches."

Miguel de Cervantes

The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.

Miguel de Cervantes

"All that glitters is not gold."

William Shakespeare

If music be the food of love play on.

William Shakespeare

Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Madrid (1547), in a numerous family (4th child out of 7) son of a surgeon. He started his career as a soldier in 1570, wounded in 1571’s Battle of Lepanto was captured by the Turks in 1575, which caused him to spend five years in prison.

In 1585 he published his first novel: “La Galatea”, a pastoral romance (a romance in which rural life is depicted as the place of perfect innocence and freedom). However, it did not manage to achieve much success. “La Galatea” presented multiple characters that tell their encounter and perspective of love, romantic relations. The theatre was much more influential in the time period, and as such, he did attempt to write plays, although this did not prove to be fructifying.

He published his famous work: Don Quixote de la Mancha (part 1 in 1605 and part 2 in 1615).

Miguel de Cervantes died in 1616.

Interesting facts:

His actual appearance is not really known, as the only portrait that was made (attributed to Juan de Jauregui) was based on the description of the author when he was already 60 years of age.

Although "Don Quixote de la Mancha" eventually became (and more so post-mortem) a real success, he died in poverty, just maybe the first in a great line of authors that would be more appreciated after death. His family was always in financial difficulty (as his father was a surgeon, that was a low paid job at the time), and because authors did not receive royalties for their books, he remained penniless.

Shakespeare was an admirer of Cervantes’ work. He even dedicated and published (1613) a play named “History of Cadenio” in memory of Don Quixote character named Cardenio.

Shakespeare died on 3rd May (but equivalent in the Gregorian calendar is actually: 23 April), while Miguel de Cervantes died on 22nd of April, both in the same year 1616.

Don Quixote became the first author with a bestselling novel, that eventually got translated into more than 60 languages without much financial gain (during his lifetime) for him.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised in 1564, son of an alderman and glove maker, Mary Arden (daughter of a landowning farmer), William Shakespeare, the person who would become the titan of literature, was the third out of 8 children.

He married Anne Hathaway when he was just 18 years old, six months after his wife gave birth to Susanna.

Between 1585 and 1592, known as “the lost years”, when little to none is known about his life until 1592, Shakespeare is scarcely mentioned, just as part of the London theatre scene.

After 1594 the plays were performed by Lord Chamberlain’s Men (playing company of actors for theatre) that King James awarded, and changed their name to King’s men.

In 1599 a new theatre was built, south of the River Thames, named the Globe, which partnered with W. Shakespeare bringing a substantial income. The theatre had one advantage: being an open-air theatre meant that it could accommodate people from all socioeconomic statuses. The poor would afford tickets just to the ground uncovered floor, without seats, but at least they could delight themselves in the great plays that Shakespear had installed for them.

To bring justice to history, the people could indulge their cultural appetite in plays before, but not on this scale. The pageant wagons used to accommodate plays between the 10th and 16th century. This mobile stage hosted religious theatrical scenes and biblical texts, bringing the Lord’s word to the people, in their majority illiterate. As such, the church aided them in understanding texts that otherwise could not be read or comprehended.

In Shakespeare’s time the permanent theatres emerged. Simultaneously, the variety of subjects kept moving faster and broader, including English kings’ plays, romantic tales, usually with dramatic endings.

He wrote a total of 38 plays and 154 sonnets, making him one of the most influential authors in English literature and world literature nonetheless. His popularity gained even more interest in the Romantic period and the Victorian era, praised as a great author even by other titans, like Victor Hugo.

Love for theatre could not keep him just as a writer for his plays, and he was also an actor in many of them. He studied many various sources for his works, and the majority being historical, are enriched with Romantic effects, like Romeo and Juliet, Othello or Hamlet. Hamlet is based on a Scandinavian legend called: “Amleth”.

In 1623 a collection of plays written by William Shakespeare started the line of his published works, and it is referred to as: “First Folio”.

Followed by: Henry VI (1592); Romeo and Juliet (1594); Richard II (1597); Henry V (1599); Hamlet (1600); Twelve night (1601); Troilus and Cressida (1602); Othello, Measure for measure (1603); All’s well that ends well, Hamlet (1604); Timon of Athens, King Lear (1605); Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra (1606); Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607); Coriolanus (1608), The winter’s tale (1609); Cymbeline (1610); The tempest (1611); Henry VIII (1613); Much ado about nothing (1623)

Interesting facts:

He was well acquainted with Queen Elizabeth I, and it is considered one of the main character of the Tudors epoch presenter.

Shakespeare gave between 1500 - 3000 new words to the English language.

Shakespeare also gave some of the literary insults like: "You scullion!", "Rampallian!"

Shakespeare’s grave includes a curse: "Blessed be the man that spares these stones. And cursed be he that moves my bones."

The globe theatre featured: trap doors, actors lifted on wires and cannons. This was all to entice the audience experience, and it was very advanced for the time. A fire destroyed it in 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII. It was eventually rebuilt in 1614, to be closed once more in 1642. In 1997 a new one named: “Shakespeare’s Globe” was built only 230 metres from where the original one used to be.

Nihil sine Deo