Miguel de Cervantes Saaverda's (1547-1616) life was occupied with a struggle to earn a livelihood from literature and humble government employment. As well as Don Quixote, he wrote a number of plays and a collection of highly accomplished short stories, Exemplary Tales (1613).
John Rutherford ... makes Don Quixote funny and readable . His Quixote can be pompous, imposingly learned, secretly fearful, mad and touching -- Colin Burrow * The Times Literary Supplement *