Corrections on biography and works

[luzhin23]

Two important corrections on the next to last paragraph:

1. "short novels": aside from the collection of "Twelve exemplary novels", which should be read as a whole, it is important to note his last, full-fledged novel, "Persiles and Sigismunda", a tale of adventure greatly inspired by Heliodorus.

2. "many plays, only two of which have survived": this is quite wrong, and strangely so, because a list of Cervantes's works can be found in any handbook. He wrote, but never published, some early plays, only two of which have indeed survived: "El trato de Argel" and "Numancia". But later on, after the first part of "Don Quixote," the "Exemplary novels," and the "Viaje del Parnaso" were published, Cervantes published a large volume: "Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses nunca representados", i.e., eight full plays and eight interludes that have never been played on stage. This is important because it sets him apart from other playwrights of his time: plays were usually represented but not printed, not the way around. It is symptomatic of Cervantes's originality that his plays, which did not conform to the norm of Lope de Vega, were not well received by men of the theatre, but are quite readable as different takes on dramatic truth (the only other example of a non-Lopian play that I can recall is Gongora's "Las firmezas de Isabela").

So, the note must be corrected to state that he wrote "short and long novels" and "many plays, seventeen of which have survived".

- luzhin23