The German-language first edition of Bruno Frank’s novel “Cervantes” was published by Querido Verlag, Amsterdam, in 1934. Translations were published in Sweden, the UK, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, the USA, Chile and Spain. Following the forced liquidation of Querido Verlag in 1940, this edition, published by Bermann-Fischer Verlag in Stockholm (1944), finally made the German-language version available again to readers in exile.

As in his first historical novel, “Trenck” (1926), Frank’s narrative does not take the form of a classic biography but rather streamlines the story and tells it in a scenically pointed manner. The first part portrays Miguel Cervantes as a valet in Rome, a soldier fighting in the Battle of Lepanto, and a slave in Algiers. His experiences shape his subsequent world view. In the second part, Frank describes how Cervantes became the poet who wrote “Don Quijote”. A combination of unfortunate circumstances land the unsuccessful author in prison, where he begins writing his life’s work

Klaus Mann and Ernst Toller praised the novel. Although only a very few passages in it can be understood as allusions to the present, Balder Olden, in his critique published in “Neue deutsche Blätter” (January 1935), expressed the belief that the work was also autobiographically motivated: “A German writer of our times was able to confidently portray the bearer of such misfortunes as if he had often looked him in the eye in comradeship and love.”

Further reading:
Kirchner, Sascha: Der Bürger als Künstler. Bruno Frank (1887-1945). Leben und Werk, Düsseldorf: Grupello 2009.