Refiguring Authority: Reading, Writing, and Rewriting in Cervantes

Be the first to write a review

Overview

In the prologue to Don Quixote, Cervantes maintains that his purpose in writing the work was to undo the pernicious moral and literary example of chivalric romances. Actually, argues E. Michael Gerli in this wide-ranging study, he often did much more. Cervantes and his contemporaries ceaselessly imitated one another - glossing works, dismembering and reconstructing them, writing for and against one another, while playing sophisticated games of literary one-upmanship. The result, says Gerli, is that literature in ...
See more details below
Hardcover
$40.00
BN.com price
Other sellers (Hardcover)
  • All (8) from $14.85   
  • New (5) from $14.85   
  • Used (3) from $29.75   
Sending request ...

More About This Book

Overview

In the prologue to Don Quixote, Cervantes maintains that his purpose in writing the work was to undo the pernicious moral and literary example of chivalric romances. Actually, argues E. Michael Gerli in this wide-ranging study, he often did much more. Cervantes and his contemporaries ceaselessly imitated one another - glossing works, dismembering and reconstructing them, writing for and against one another, while playing sophisticated games of literary one-upmanship. The result, says Gerli, is that literature in late Renaissance Spain was often more than a simple matter of source and imitation. It must be understood as a far more subtle, palimpsest-like process of forging endless series of texts from other texts, thus linking closely the practices of reading, writing, and rewriting. Like all major writers of the age, Cervantes was responding not just to specific literary traditions but to a broad range of texts and discourses. And he expected his well-read audience to recognize his sources and to appreciate their transformations. Modern literary theory has explicitly confirmed what Cervantes and his contemporaries intuitively knew - that reading and writing are closely linked dimensions of the literary enterprise. Other texts constitute an important source for understanding not only how Cervantes' works were composed but how these works were read, received, and rewritten by him and other writers of his age. Reading Cervantes and his contemporaries in this way enables us to comprehend the craft, wit, irony, and subtle conceit that lie at the heart of seventeenth-century Spanish literature.
Read More Show Less

Editorial Reviews

Modern Philology
A thoughtful, ambitious, and, in the best sense, polemical study.
— Modern Philology
From the Publisher
"A thoughtful, ambitious, and, in the best sense, polemical study." — Modern Philology
Booknews
Gerli (Spanish, Georgetown U.) characterizes literature in late Renaissance Spain as an ongoing process of mutual imitation, literary one-upmanship, and displacement of literary authority. He describes Don Quixote as a brilliant instance of this process, observing that Cervantes' novel prefigures the work of many modern literary theorists. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Read More Show Less

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780813119229
  • Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
  • Publication date: 12/28/1995
  • Series: Studies in Romance Languages
  • Pages: 152
  • Product dimensions: 5.90 (w) x 9.10 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
A Note on Translations and Editions
Introduction: Reading, Writing, and Rewriting in Cervantes 1
1 The Dialectics of Writing: El licenciado Vidriera and the Picaresque 10
2 A Novel Rewriting: Romance and Irony in La gitanilla 24
3 Rewriting Myth and History: Discourses of Race, Marginality, and Resistance in the Captive's Tale (Don Quijote I, 37-42) 40
4 Unde veritas: Readings, Writings, Voices, and Revisions in the Text (Don Quijote I, 8-9) 61
5 Aristotle in Africa: Interrogating Verisimilitude and Rewriting Theory in El gallardo espanol 82
6 Rewriting Lope de Vega: El retablo de las maravillas, Cervantes' Arte nuevo de deshacer comedias 95
Conclusion 110
Notes 114
Bibliography 124
Index 134
Read More Show Less

Customer Reviews

Be the first to write a review
( 0 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(0)

4 Star

(0)

3 Star

(0)

2 Star

(0)

1 Star

(0)

Your Rating:

Review Guidelines
Add Recommendations
Your Name: Create a Pen Name or

Barnes & Noble.com Review Rules

Our reader reviews allow you to share your comments on titles you liked, or didn't, with others. By submitting an online review, you are representing to Barnes & Noble.com that all information contained in your review is original and accurate in all respects, and that the submission of such content by you and the posting of such content by Barnes & Noble.com does not and will not violate the rights of any third party. Please follow the rules below to help ensure that your review can be posted.

Reviews by Our Customers Under the Age of 13

We highly value and respect everyone's opinion concerning the titles we offer. However, we cannot allow persons under the age of 13 to have accounts at BN.com or to post customer reviews. Please see our Terms of Use for more details.

What to exclude from your review:

Please do not write about reviews, commentary, or information posted on the product page. If you see any errors in the information on the product page, please send us an email.

Reviews should not contain any of the following:

  • - HTML tags, profanity, obscenities, vulgarities, or comments that defame anyone
  • - Time-sensitive information such as tour dates, signings, lectures, etc.
  • - Single-word reviews. Other people will read your review to discover why you liked or didn't like the title. Be descriptive.
  • - Comments focusing on the author or that may ruin the ending for others
  • - Phone numbers, addresses, URLs
  • - Pricing and availability information or alternative ordering information
  • - Advertisements or commercial solicitation

Reminder:

  • - By submitting a review, you grant to Barnes & Noble.com and its sublicensees the royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use the review in accordance with the Barnes & Noble.com Terms of Use.
  • - Barnes & Noble.com reserves the right not to post any review -- particularly those that do not follow the terms and conditions of these Rules. Barnes & Noble.com also reserves the right to remove any review at any time without notice.
  • - See Terms of Use for other conditions and disclaimers.
Search for Products You'd Like to Recommend

Recommend other products that relate to your review. Just search for them below and share!

Create a Pen Name

Your Pen Name is your unique identity on BN.com. It will appear on the reviews you write and other website activities. Your Pen Name cannot be edited, changed or deleted once submitted.

 
Your Pen Name can be any combination of alphanumeric characters (plus - and _), and must be at least two characters long.

Continue Anonymously
    If you find inappropriate content, please report it to Barnes & Noble
    Why is this product inappropriate?
    Comments (optional)