Celestina and the Human Condition in Early Modern Spain and Italy (Monografías A)

Winner of the 2015 Publication Prize awarded by the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland Celestina by Fernando de Rojas is a canonical work of late medieval Spanish literature and one of the earliest European -best-sellers-. However, while we have clear evidence of its popularity and influence due to detailed research on its print history and editions, we have not adequately answered the question of precisely why it continued to hold such appeal for early modern audiences. This book explores Celestina 's role as a key interlocutor in European literature and thought. Taking an ideological and comparative approach that focuses on Celestina's reception in sixteenth-century Spain and Italy, it reads Rojas's work against a network of texts that were translated, printed, and circulated concurrently in both Peninsulas yet which have not previously been examined in depth or detail alongside it. The study argues that that Celestina continued to be meaningful because it engaged with one of the period's defining preoccupations: namely the human condition, an idea often conceptualised in pro et contra debates about the misery and dignity of man. Rachel Scott is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at King's College London specialising in late medieval and early modern Spanish literature and culture. Winner of the 2015 Publication Prize awarded by the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland . Celestina by Fernando de Rojas is a canonical work of late medieval Spanish literature and one ofthe earliest European "best-sellers". However, while we have clear evidence of its popularity and influence, scholarship has not adequately answered the question of why it continued to hold such appeal for early modern audiences.This book explores Celestina 's role as a key interlocutor in European literature and thought; it argues that the work continued to be meaningful because it engaged with one of the period's defining the human condition, an idea often conceptualised in pro et contra debates about the misery and dignity of man. Taking an ideological and comparative approach that focuses on Celestina 's reception in sixteenth-century Spain and Italy, it reads Rojas's work against a network of texts that were translated and printed concurrently in both peninsulas yet which have not previously been examined in depth or detail alongside it, including Baldassare Castiglione's Il Cortegiano , Fernn Prez de Oliva's Dilogo de la dignidad del hombre , and Pietro Aretino's Vita delle puttane . Each chapter explores themes common to sixteenth-century debates about the human condition, such as self-knowledge, self-fashioning, the formative role of language, the tension between freedom and constraint, as well as the access to knowledge provided by vernacular fiction in the context of early modern censorship. Rachel Scott is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at King's College London. Table of Contents Note on Editions, Transcriptions, and Translations List of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Debating the Human Celestina 's Interlocutors Self-knowledge and Dilogo de la dignidad del hombre Fashioning Self and Il Cortegiano The Myth of La vita delle puttane Corrupting Women, Corrupting Coloquio de las damas Afterword Bibliography Explores Celestina's role as a key interlocutor in European literature and thought in the context of debates about the human condition.Winner of the 2015 Publication Prize awarded by the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland. Celestina by Fernando de Rojas is a canonical work of late medieval Spanish literature and one ofthe earliest European'best-sellers'. However, while we have clear evidence of its popularity and influence, scholarship has not adequately answered the question of why it continued to hold such appeal for early modern audiences.This book explores Celestina's role as a key interlocutor in European literature and thought; it argues that the work continued to be meaningful because it engaged with one of the period's defining preoccupations: the human condition, an idea often conceptualised in pro et contra debates about the misery and dignity of man. Taking an ideological and comparative approach that focuses on Celestina's reception in sixteenth-century Spain and Italy, it reads Rojas's work against a network of texts that were translated and printed concurrently in both peninsulas yet which have not previously been examined in depth or detail alongside it, including Baldassare Castiglione'sIl Cortegiano, Fernán Pérez de Oliva's Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre, and Pietro Aretino's Vita delle puttane. Each chapter explores themes common to sixteenth-century debates about the human condition, such as self-knowledge, self-fashioning, the formative role of language, the tension between freedom and constraint, as well as the access to knowledge provided by vernacular fiction in the context of early modern censorship. Rachel Scott is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at King's College London. Winner of the 2015 Publication Prize awarded by the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland. Celestina by Fernando de Rojas is a canonical work of late medieval Spanish literature and one of the earliest European "best-sellers". However, while we have clear evidence of its popularity and influence, scholarship has not adequately answered the question of why it continued to hold such appeal for early modern audiences. This book explores Celestina's role as a key interlocutor in European literature and thought; it argues that the work continued to be meaningful because it engaged with one of the period's defining preoccupations: the human condition, an idea often conceptualised in pro et contra debates about the misery and dignity of man. Taking an ideological and comparative approach that focuses on Celestina's reception in sixteenth-century Spain and Italy, it reads Rojas's work against a network of texts that were translated and printed concurrently in both peninsulas yet which have not previously been examined in depth or detail alongside it, including Baldassare Castiglione's Il Cortegiano, Fernán Pérez de Oliva's Diálogo de la dignidad del hombre, and Pietro Aretino's Vita delle puttane. Each chapter explores themes common to sixteenth-century debates about the human condition, such as self-knowledge, self-fashioning, the formative role of language, the tension between freedom and constraint, as well as the access to knowledge provided by vernacular fiction in the context of early modern censorship. Rachel Scott is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at King's College London