Cervantes was a Spanish author best known for Don Quixote de la Mancha, his novel about an aging “knight.” A superb burlesque of the popular romances of chivalry, the work was an enormous success and has had an indelible effect on the development of the European novel. Cervantes himself led an eventful life: he was imprisoned several times, captured by pirates, and sold as a slave. How long was he enslaved before his family managed to scrape together the money to secure his release? Discuss