Celebrating Cervantes and the Ottoman soldier whose bad aim made Don Quixote possible

BARCELONA, Spain – If an Ottoman soldier had shot at Spanish literary giant Miguel de Cervantes’ right hand instead of his left during the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, it very well may have been that Don Quixote, one of the most enduring literary heroes of all time, would never have existed.

This month, as the Spanish-speaking world celebrates the fourth centenary of Cervantes’ death, perhaps there should also be a special remembrance of the unknown Ottoman soldier who slightly missed his aim, maiming the would-be writer’s left hand and injuring him in the chest, but failing to finish the man whose remaining good hand went on to pen his masterpiece.

Cervantes himself wrote that he “lost the movement of the left hand for the glory of the right.”

Born in Alcala de Henares, a city near Madrid, in 1547, Cervantes is regarded as a master of Western literature. The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, known more commonly as simply Don Quixote, is considered the first modern European novel, so revered in Spain that the Spanish language itself is often referred to as “the language of Cervantes.”

Cervantes is to the Spanish language what Shakespeare is to English; coincidentally, they died only days apart.

This month, commemorations around the world of the 400th anniversary of the English bard’s death have eclipsed the ones for Cervantes.

Even in the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil, street posters advertise, “Shakespeare lives in 2016.”

Spanish speakers and many literary critics argue that both Shakespeare and Cervantes were equally masterful with the pen.

“The fact of being an Anglophone writer has played a decisive role in the popularity of Shakespeare, but also the cultural and institutional respect towards him has been far superior and more imaginative in the Anglo-Saxon world than the one expressed in Spain towards Cervantes,” Jordi Gracia García, professor of Spanish literature at the University of Barcelona, told Rudaw.

He noted that the 1,100-page Don Quixote has been translated into 140 languages – equal to the works of Shakespeare.

“The book is still in force because it had created a new way to tell a story that did not exist before Cervantes and that is still ours: the free and modern novel,” said Gracia García, author of a biography on Cervantes.

“This book has never been out of fashion for the past 400 years in any country, and so it will continue like this,” he opined.

Cervantes’ life, like many writers and artists in the world, was full of tribulations and difficulties, as he struggled to make ends meet. The great literary master had to endure work as a chamber assistant for a cardinal, a tax collector for the government, and a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada.

In between those jobs, he joined the Spanish fleet of Catholic states to fight the Ottomans for control of the Mediterranean. There, besides losing his hand, he was captured by Ottoman pirates and taken to Algiers as a slave, only to be released five years later on ransom paid by his parents and a Catholic religious order.

Those years in captivity shaped his writings and were reflected in Don Quixote, and also in other plays he wrote, set in Algiers.

“He never forgot this period [of captivity] and he used this many times in his writings. He always evoked the need till the end, to go to free those Christian captives there,” said Gracia García.

It was not until 1605 that he found immediate recognition after publishing the first part of Don Quixote, while the second part was published in 1615. Cervantes passed away on April 22, 1616 at the age of 68.

The story of Don Quixote narrates the adventures of Alonso Quijano, a 50-year old minor nobleman and fan of chivalry, who sets off in search of adventures as a knight errant on top of his also old horse, Rocinante.

In his feverish mind he changes his name to the more chivalrous Don Quixote of La Mancha. Looking for a squire to accompany him on his adventures, on his way he meets a poor villager, Sancho Panza, a down to earth man whose understanding of life is in contrast with his master’s ideals.

His lady -- a must have for a knight -- is a farmer girl who Don Quixote sees in his delusions as a princess, calling her Dulcinea del Toboso.

The book is a parody with plenty of humor and reflection on the human condition, and is critical of Spanish society of the time.

“I read the book in school when I was 14 years old. It had so many funny parts that I used to stand on a chair and recite it aloud to my family,” Spanish doctor Montserrat Figuerola Montón told Rudaw.

Celebrating Cervantes and the Ottoman soldier whose bad aim made Don Quixote possible

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