Born: 1584
Birthplace: Tordesillas, Spain
Died: 1648
Location of death: Palermo, Italy
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Occupation: Novelist

Nationality: Spain
Executive summary: Tardes Entretenidas

Spanish novelist and playwright, is stated to have been baptized at Tordesillas near Valladolid on 1st October 1584. Nothing is known of his youth, and he is next heard of at Madrid in 1619 as a man of literary tastes. While in the service of the Marquis de Villar, he issued his first work, Donaires del Parnaso (1624-25), two volumes of humorous poems; his Tardes entretenidas (1625) and Jornadas alegres (1626) proved that he was a novelist by vocation. Shortly afterwards he joined the household of the Marquis de los V�lez, Viceroy of Valencia, and published in quick succession three clever picaresque novels: La Ni�a de los embustes, Teresa de Manzanares (1634), Las Aventuras del Bachiller Trapaza (1637), and a continuation entitled La Gardu�a de Sevilla y Anzuelo de las bolsas (1642). To these shrewd cynical stories he owes his reputation.

He followed the Marquis de los V�lez in his disastrous campaign in Catalonia, and accompanied him to Rome, where the defeated general was sent as ambassador. Castillo Solrzano's death occurred (probably at Palermo) before 1648, but the exact date is uncertain. His prolonged absence from Madrid prevented him from writing as copiously for the stage as he would otherwise have done; but he was popular as a playwright both at home and abroad. His Marqu�s del Cigarral and El Mayorazgo figur�n are the sources respectively of Scarron's Don Jophet d'Arm�nie and L'H�ritier ridicule. Among his numerous remaining works may be mentioned Las Harp�as en Madrid (1633), Fiestas del Jard�n (1634), Los Alivios de Casandra (1640) and the posthumous Quinta de Laurel (1649); the witty observation of these books forms a singular contrast to the prim devotion of his Sagrario de Valencia (1635). His versatility and graceful style deserve the highest praise.

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