Narrative Renaissance in Spanish Literature: From Chivalric Romances to Don Quixote
Narrative Renaissance
A Marvelous World
The Narrative Renaissance attempts to reconcile the marvelous and the believable to achieve its main function: to delight readers while imparting lessons.
Renaissance Models
a) Byzantine Novels
This noble subgenre attracted great Renaissance authors. Its stories relate adventures placed in exotic locales. Unlike chivalric novels, these settings were presented as more believable. The typical story structure revolves around the protagonist’s journey, passing through a series of impediments to reach a final reunion. Their discourse incorporates elements like in medias res beginnings and interpolated stories.
b) Pastoral Novels
Here, idealized shepherds in pastoral settings narrate their woes. These novels utilize in medias res beginnings and interpolated stories. Dialogue holds significant importance, with characters’ stories transmitted through conversations, often interspersed with songs and poems.
Other Narrative Poems
a) The Celestina
This series of texts follows the model of Fernando de Rojas’s La Celestina, a tragicomedy with erotic themes.
b) Sentimental Novels
These novels deal with the theme of unrequited passions.
c) Chivalric Novels and Moorish Novels
Lazarillo de Tormes
This anonymous work draws inspiration from various sources, including the tale of the golden ass, the fourth book of Amadís de Gaula, the knight errant Rinaldo de Montalbán from Orlando Furioso, love letters, and folktales.
History
Lazarillo is forced to leave his family and serve various masters.
Parts
- The Foreword: Justifies the writing of the story.
- The Treatises: Modules depicting Lazarillo’s life stages: childhood (blind man, cleric, squire), adolescence (friar, pardoner, chaplain), and youth (bailiff, archbishop).
Lazarillo’s character is shaped by the principles of the world he inhabits, a world devoid of love.
Address
The narrative structure resembles a letter written in the first person. The protagonist’s monologue reveals two types of discourse: appraisals of situations and character portrayals. The work aims for universality.
Expressive techniques employed include humor through Gospel references, wordplay, diminutives, antitheses, and irony.
Its main themes are honor and anticlerical criticism.
Narrative of Cervantes
1) La Galatea
This debut work showcases traces of Cervantes’s Renaissance education. It’s a bucolic novel where idealized shepherds express their love in a harmonious, unreal natural setting.
2) Exemplary Novels
This collection of twelve short stories, written in the Italian style, upholds the classical ideal of”teach and delight” Some notable titles include:
- The Gypsy Girl: A fantastical story centered on Preciosa, a young woman raised by Gypsies, and her relationship with a nobleman who’s willing to give up his status for love. It’s revealed that Preciosa is also of noble birth, having been kidnapped as a child.
- The Generous Lover: A Byzantine tale of love and adventure with a happy ending, thanks to the protagonist’s generosity in freeing his beloved, who is also his friend.
- Rinconete and Cortadillo: Two young con artists join a group of rogues led by the formidable Monipodio, witnessing their fights, scams, and entertainment.
- The English Spanish Girl: A young Spanish woman, kidnapped by the English during the siege of Cadiz, falls in love with the son of her adoptive parents, who are secretly Catholic. The couple eventually returns to Spain and reunites with their families.
- The Licentiate of Glass: This story follows the bizarre adventures of Tomás Rodaja, a student who, after serving as a soldier in Italy, returns to his studies in Salamanca and descends into madness, believing himself to be made of glass, all while maintaining a strange lucidity and wit.
- The Force of Blood: This tale explores the aftermath of Leocadia’s rape by a young nobleman from Toledo. Over time, and after bearing his child, she ends up marrying her rapist.
- The Jealous Extremaduran: An aging Indian man marries a fourteen-year-old girl, attempting to keep her isolated and protected. However, despite his efforts, she is seduced by a young man.
- The Illustrious Scullery Maid: A young nobleman falls in love with a beautiful scullery maid, believed to be the daughter of a Toledo innkeeper. However, she is later revealed to be of noble birth, showcasing Cervantes’s optimistic and romantic side.
- The Two Damsels: Two young women, disguised as men (a common trope in contemporary literature), embark on a journey to find their loves, ultimately marrying them.
- Lady Cornelia: Two Basque noblemen in Italy take in a young, single mother. It turns out she is about to marry her lover, who happens to be the Duke of Milan.
- The Deceitful Marriage: A poor lieutenant, attempting to seduce a wealthy woman, is seemingly abandoned by her after contracting syphilis. From his hospital bed, he overhears a conversation between two dogs.
- The Dialogue of the Dogs: Embedded within”The Deceitful Marriage” this story transcribes the conversation between two dogs gifted with speech, who discuss the tricks and deceits they’ve witnessed from their masters.
3) The Labors of Persiles and Sigismunda
This Byzantine novel blends realism and idealism, following the adventures of two lovers who, after a long and eventful journey across various countries, arrive in Rome and get married. The”labor” referred to in the title encompass the shipwrecks, dangers, kidnappings, and other challenges the characters face.
4) Don Quixote de la Mancha
This iconic work, featuring the unforgettable Alonso Quijano, was published in two parts: the first in 1605 and the second in 1615.
Structure of the Work
Don Quixote is structured around three journeys, or”sallies” undertaken by the protagonist. The first two are recounted in the first part, while the third spans the entirety of the second part.
Timeline
- Departure from the Village: Don Quixote initially sets out alone, but is later joined by his faithful squire, Sancho Panza.
- Series of Adventures: The knight’s adventures unfold in a somewhat repetitive pattern.
- The Third Sally Marks a Change: The protagonist’s delusions become less central, giving way to a more nuanced portrayal of reality.
- Return to the Village: All three sallies conclude with Don Quixote’s return home, the first two in difficult circumstances and the last in death.
Characters
- Don Quixote: Tall, thin, aging, with a quick temper, Don Quixote is well-read and educated. He is single, solitary, brave, and impulsive. His madness, a central theme of the novel, drives him to become a knight-errant. He both desires and believes himself to be a true knight, even as he acknowledges the pretense.
- Sancho Panza: Don Quixote’s opposite in many ways, Sancho is short, stout, prudent, illiterate, married, practical, and peace-loving. A farmer by trade, he agrees to serve as Don Quixote’s squire in hopes of being rewarded with an island.
- Dulcinea: A figment of Don Quixote’s imagination, Dulcinea is based on Aldonza Lorenzo, a peasant woman the hero has only glimpsed from afar and never spoken to. He idealizes her into his perfect lady love.
Themes and Meaning
The main themes explored in Don Quixote include idealism, freedom, love, madness, and the power of literature.
Narration and Narrators
of Don Quixote: Narrator Home: Account from a higher level and external to the story is omniscient and sometimes uses the first person . Narrators-characters: the main narrator gave the floor to the characters who have various kinds relatosde which play different roles.