Although the work enjoyed enormous success when first issued, it brought fame but little in the way of money to its author.
On the stage of world literature, Miguel de Cervantes and his masterpiece, Don Quixote of La Mancha, occupy a central position. Although the work enjoyed enormous success when first issued, it brought fame but little in the way of money to its author. Motivated by the publication of a spurious continuation by Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, published in 1614, Cervantes brought the story of his delusional knight errant and his page, Sancho Panza, to a close in a second part, published in 1615.