The Humor of Don Quixote de la Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes.
Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote de la Mancha, in two parts. The first part was published in 1605, and met with almost immediate success, although Cervantes himself remained poor. A sequel to Don Quixote was published in 1613. This was, however, an unauthorized, false production. This book prompted Cervantes to author a second book, which appeared in 1615. The books appear to have been written in an attempt to satirize the tales of chivalry that were popular to the era, for instance the Arthurian legends, noted for their supernatural feats. However, the tale, though funny, also contains a significant amount of instances where a lesson seems to be being conveyed to the reader. This prompts the question of whether Cervantes meant this work as nothing more than a parody, or if the humor was intended as an aid for expressing a deeper lesson.
The story has very humorous tones, the first of these being the feigned historical pretenses for the tale. As the story unfolds, the audience is presented a complex description of the hero's background. The reader is told of his daily habits, the area where as well as how and with whom, he lives. Additionally, it is written that the hero is an actual historical figure and that the author, Cervantes, is simply rewriting a tale that he had read years before, of a man named Quejana, that he chooses to call Quixote; and at the same time goes to great length to establish the fact that the tale is true. The humor in this is that all the effort put into convincing the reader of the story's authenticity, only serves to plant a seed of doubt in their mind. This aspect of the story would appear to be a parody, rather than a teaching tool. Similarly, when he wrote the follow up to Don Quixote, Sr. Cervantes claimed to have stumbled upon an original manuscript of the tale of Don Quixote on a street vender's cart, a perfectly plausible assertion, until he says that it was in Moorish and he bought it because it looked interesting, and only found out later that it was a tale of his hero.