Cervantes, Miguel de, suhr VAN tees, mih GEHL day (1547-1616), ranks as the outstanding writer in Spanish literature. His masterpiece, Don Quixote, is a novel about a middle-aged country landowner who imagines himself a knight in armor and goes into the world to battle injustice. Don Quixote ranks among the great works in literature and has been a major influence on the development of the novel. See Don Quixote.