Three visions of Cervantes: Menéndez Pelayo, Ortega y Gasset, Américo Castro

Abstract

This chronicle presents three visions of Miguel de Cervantes proposed by three authors: Menéndez Pelayo, Ortega y Gasset, Américo Castro. "La cultura literaria de Cervantes y la elaboración del Quijote", a speech given by Menéndez Pelayo at the Central University on May 8, 1905, is compared with the Meditaciones del Quijote, by Ortega and Gasset (1914), and El pensamiento de Cervantes by Américo Castro (1925). The three authors show their opinion regarding the quixotism and the work of Cervantes and it is concluded that, compared to the secular Cervantes of Ortega and Castro, for Menéndez Pelayo the Catholic orthodoxy of Cervantes is appreciated.