Cervantine Criticism until 1999

This chapter presents a survey of Cervantine criticism until the closing of the twentieth century. With a single exception, the critical fortunes of Cervantes’s works are treated here in the order in which they were originally published. From his first published work in 1585 to the posthumous Persiles in 1617, the Cervantine canon has provided an immeasurable influence on world literature and culture. This chapter analyses their reception in Spain and around the world and describes the most well-known and significant academic studies in the nearly four centuries since the writer’s death.