La corónica. A Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures

68 Pages·1977·17.638 MB·

by  Modern Language Association of America

Vol. VI
Fall 1977
No. 1
•
roro111ca
Spanish Languagea nd Medievall iterature
Newsletter
' ,,
JL,,J 2 - .. I"""
' - J
Bibliographya nd ResearchC mnmittee
Spanish 1 Sedion, Modern LanguageA ssociation
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
GL
l
-- ,, ·. I J I
.J .... _ _,.
c r -,, l \
....__rY/ -
, . ~ ') .• ?· -,
~) - .,_ .... J \
LA COR0NICA
__,;
Volume 6, Number 1
Fall 1977
The 1977 MLA Conventions Abatracts of Papers
Division of Spanish Medieval Language and Literature .•••••.••••••••.. 3
Special Sea (cid:127) ions Medieval Poetical and Musical Genres of the Iberian
Peninaula ••••.••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••••••••.•..•.•••••.••.•• 4
Special Se(cid:127)(cid:127) ion: Hiatory, Narrative and Diction in the Late castilian
Bpic1 Trend (cid:127) in Contemporary Research ••••••.••••.••.•••.••.•..••• 7
Special se(cid:127) aion1 Contemporary Trend• in La Celestina critici~~ ••••• 10
Special Seaaion1 Medieval and Renai (cid:127)(cid:127) ance'Historical Writings of the
Iberian Penin (cid:127) ula •••••••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••••••.•.•••••• 11
Abstracts of Recent Paper•
The South central MLA Meeting •••••••••••••••.•••....•.•••••.•••••... 12
The South Atlantic MLA Meeting ••••••••••.••••••••••••••••••...•.•••. 13
Notes and Bibliographic Sumarie (cid:127)
Further French Analogue (cid:127) and Sources for the Poema de mio Cid (Colin
Smith) ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••••••.•••••••••••••••• 14
The Infante• de Carrion and the Final ouela in the Poema de mio Cid
(Roger M. WaI ker) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ~ :-:--• :-:-:-• :-:-:-• 22
Bibliography of Doctoral Dia(cid:127) ertation• on Themes of Medieval Penin
(cid:127) ular Literature (R. Brian Tate and collaborators) •••..•.••••••.. 26
Miacelanea
Concordances to Old Spaniah Texts: Present Status and Proposed
Future Guideline (cid:127) (Steven D. Kirby) •••••••••••••••.••••••••••••.• 38
Volume Seven of La Muralla' (cid:127) Set of Slides for Medieval Spanish
Literature (Roger D. Tinnell) ••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••...••• 40
Early Spanish Manu(cid:127) cripta in Public Libraries:
I. The Ticknor Collection of the Boston Public Library
II. The National Library of Parma, Italy
III. Hew Spanish Medieval Manuscripts in the Biblioteca Nacional,
Madrid (Harold G. Jones) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••. 41
An Annotated Discography of Recordings of Las Cantigas de Santa
Maria of Alfonso X, el Sabio (Roger o. Tinnell) •••.••••.••••••••• 46
Texta
Debate entre el vino y la cerveza •••••••.••••••••••••.•..•....•.•... 49
conference Reports
Fifty-Second Annual Meeting of The Mediaeval Academy of America
(Robert I. Burn (cid:127), S.J., and Jill R. Webster) ••••.•••••••••.•.••.. 54
Historian• of Medieval Spain (R. Brian Tate) •••...•••••••.••..•••... 55
Sexto Congreao de la A(cid:127) ociaci6n Internacional de Hispanistas (Harold
G. Jones ) •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••..•••.•••••••• ·• ••••••••••.• 5 5
MLA Bibliography: Medieval Spanish Literature (compiled by Oliver T.
Myers) ••.....••••••.••••••••.••..••••••••.•.••..•..••..•••.•........ 59
Peraonalia (compiled by Steven o. Kirby) ••.••••••.•••.••.••••..•.•..•••.. 61
Announcemen ta ••••••••••••••••••••••.••••.•..••..........••..•........•.•• 6 5
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
3
THE 1977 MODERNL ANGUAGAE SSOCIATIONC ONVENTION:
- -- ABSTRACTSO F PAPERS
ABSTRACTSO F PAPERS TO BE PRESENTEDA T THE MEETINGO F THE DIVISION OF
SPANISH MEDIEVALL ANGUAGAE ND LITERATURE, 29 DECEMBER1 977, 8:30-9:45 A.M.,
BEL AIR ROOM, CONRADH ILTON HOTEL, CHICAGOC. HAIRMAN: DOLORES BROWN,T HE
UNIVERSITY OP ARIZONA.
EL RIMADOD E PALACIO: HISTORIA DE LA TRADICIONY CRITICA DEL TEXTO
Joa• Luis Coy, unlver (cid:127) ity of Connecticut
Esta trabajo intenta detarminar ai loa MSS. Ny E eon copia literal de
la redacci6n del Rimado hacha por Ayala, o aide bien uno de elloa contie
ne una revision del texto primitivo.
Al exaainar una larga aeccidn de Ny Ea la luz de lo• Morale (cid:127) de San
Gregorio, texto an pro (cid:127) a ver (cid:127) ificado en el poema, •• obaarva qua iaa lactu
raa de Nae mantianen conatantemente fielea a esta fuante; an cambio, las
correapondientea de E ae diatancian, en mayor o manor medida, de lo (cid:127) Morales.
Eatoa datoa augieren qua el MS. N ofrace lo qua podr{amo (cid:127) llamar el primiti
vo e(cid:127) tado redaccional dal Rimado, mientraa qua E contiene un aatado posterior,
ea decir, una refundici6n del taxto original.
Bata impreaidn •• confirma madianta al eatudio de ocho poema(cid:127) breves de
la (cid:127) accidn intermedia del Rimado. Eatoa •cantarea,• como Ayala loa llama,
agun
ban aido c0111pueatoa (cid:127) al e(cid:127) quw de la copla de arte manor y la (cid:127) c•~ti
ga(cid:127) de Alfon (cid:127) o el Sabio. Ahora bian, an el MS. E lo (cid:127) do(cid:127) priaero (cid:127) can~~res
ban (cid:127) ido alterados para ancajarlo (cid:127) an la eatrofa t!pica del me(cid:127) ter de clere
cla, predolllinante en el poeaa. Por conaiguienta, al MS. E pre (cid:127) enta un texto
cuya e(cid:127) tructura Mtrica ha (cid:127) ido ratocada an varias ocaaiona (cid:127)•
Pinalmente, en una de la (cid:127) c01Dp0sicionea dedicada (cid:127) al Ci(cid:127) ma de Occidente,
al c6dice B contiene un alegato en favor dal Papa Luna. Loque an la redac
ci6n de Ayala, reflejada an N, era una oraci6n a Dioa pidianclo la conclusidn
del CiAla, (cid:127) e ha convertido en E en veh!culo propagandI (cid:127) tico de la cauaa de
Benedicto XIII.
Se puede afirmar, por tanto, qua el Riaado no(cid:127) ha llegado en do(cid:127) versio
ne• di (cid:127) tinta (cid:127): la original, contanida an al MS. N; y otra, la de E, qua
ofrece un texto refundido, probablamenta por un partidario del Papa Luna.
Naturalaente, este a(cid:127) pecto de la hi (cid:127) toria de la tradici&n del Rilnado marca
directrices importante (cid:127) para la revi (cid:127) ion cr!tica del taxto del poema.
DICTIONARIES OF OLD SPANISH--STATUS AND PLANS
Lloyd Ka(cid:127) ten, University of Wi(cid:127) conain-Madison
The appearance of a Tentative Dictionary of Old Spaniah in 1946 inspired
hope (cid:127) of a poaaible and expanded dictionary for the medieval period at sane
time in the group. To promote this hope, the Spanish I di (cid:127) cuaaion futuxe
appointed a committee to carry on the work, which was to be done in Madison
aa an adjunct to the Alfonaine language project being carried on there. Over
the years the data for a reviaad dictionary was assembled until an estimated
seventeen times the volume of the original edition waa a(cid:127) aembled by hand.
A check on accuracy waa necessary before coaaitting the new version to the
press, since the large number of people participating over many years in
troduced variations which need to be standardized. The checking is proceed
ing steadily. In this work we are producing a defining dictionary similar
in form and purpose to the original version.
The entrance of the computer into the dictionary-making process has
made possible the accumulation of language data on a scale hitherto not
feasible. Through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Digitized by G 0 08 Ie UNIVEROSriIgTinYaO l Ffr oMmI CHIGAN
4
and the Wisconsin Graduate School we have been enabled to transcribe from
manuscripts and incunabula texts of numerous works which will aerve as the
basis for a citational dictionary. New techniques have been developed,
making use of the university's computer and our own peripheral equipment.
Much of the drudgery of former methods has been eliminated, and the possibil
ity of errors has been greatly reduced. Planned as a ten-year project, the
new dictionary material recorded during the first four year (cid:127) include• a
good number of the longer works produced in Spain before 1500.
EDITING ALFONSINE LEGALT EXTS: PROBLEMAS ND PROGRESS
Robert A. MacDonald, University of Richmond
The problemsone sees today involved in editing the legal text (cid:127) attributed
to Alfonso X can be put into two broad categories. Pir (cid:127) t there i• the problem
of the works themselves: their identity, purpose, character, and relation
ship both to each other and to the program envisioned by the king. Second,
what have been the editorial aims and criteria in the ca (cid:127) e of the existing
editions, and how satisfactory do they seam now? Thia paper deal (cid:127) generally
with each in turn before commenting upon some outstanding problema involved
in editing the works and then concluding with reference to preaent and future
editorial efforts. Discussion ia limited mainly to tho•• text (cid:127) known today
as the Setenario, the Fuero Real, the Eap4°culo, and the Siete Partida (cid:127)•
ABSTRACTSO F PAPERS TO BE PRESENTEDA T SPECIAL SESSION: MEDIEVALP OETICAL
AND MUSICAL•GEHRBSO F THE IBERIAN PENINSULA, 30 DECEMBER19 77, 9:30-10:45
A.M., ROOM5 34, CONRADH ILTON. DISCUSSION LEADER: ROGERD . TINNELL,
PLYMOUTHST ATE COLLEGEO F THE UNIVERSITY OF NEWH AMPSHIRE
CANTIGASD E AMIGO, CANTARESD E AMOR, AND VILLANCICOS: EVOLVINGG ENRES
Joanne B. Purcell, Sherman Oaka, California
Any future scholarship regarding the cantigas de amiyo and the cantarea
~~depends upon the definition and differentiation o the two genres.
We compare anew the cantares de amor and the parallelistic/non parallelistic
cantigas de amigo in order to perceive structural and thematic characteri (cid:127) tica
that are c!Tstlnctive of each. Also, those characteristic (cid:127) that ar• (cid:127) hared in
common as well as indications of interplay between these poetic forms will be
discussed. Similarities of theme and structure with the jar~•• and with the
villancicos will be considered with respect to the evolvinglrectiona of the
canti~as de am~go and the cantares de amor. A diachronic perspective perait (cid:127)
insig t into t e way the two genrescleveloped and into their probable influence
in the emergence of the villancicos.
EL ELEMENTOH ISTORICO EN LOS CANTOSS EFARDIES.
Jose s,nchez-Boudy, University of North Carolina at Greenaboro
Si la historia es s6lo una sucesi6n de hechos ea natural qua en loa
cantos sefard{es no aparezcan las desazones y tribulacione (cid:127) qua c011p0rt6
la expulsidn de Espaffa y el tomar caminos bajo otros cieloa. Paro ai la
historia es el hacer global de un pueblo a m,a de la simple (cid:127) uceaidn deacon
teceres, la permanencia de lo hist6rico, ea decir de lo aapanol y lo judlo
del tiempo en que el gobierno espanol loa lanza fuera del mundo, no hay la
men~= duda de que ella est, presente en los Cantos Sefarditaa. La ponencia
deg ~ tratamos demostrara, en un recorrido a traves de esos canto (cid:127) aefardi-
Google
Original from
Digitized by
UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
tas, que la historia concretada en lo historico ha sido presencia constante
y que loa avatares acaecidoa despu~s de la expulsidn cuentan poco como ele
mentoa de las canciones aefarditas.
BNMM S. 9589 AND MEDIEVALS PANISH METRICALT ERMINOLOGY
Charles B. Faulhaber, Univeraity of California at Berkeley
The Latin MSS of late medieval Spain represent one of the last un
explored resources for throwing new light upon the evolution of the vernacular
literatures and literary theories of the peninsula. A case in point is MS.
9589 of the BNM, an Aragoneae rhetorical miscellany from the first half of
the fifteenth century. It contains, in addition to a copy of Geoffrey of
Vinaauf's Poetria Nova (9lossed with two corlas from the Libra de buen amorl
ara
and excerpts from GuTclo Faba's Summa Dictam nls, an anonymous priadiciiidi
(inc.: Sequitur de modo connotandl siue connotata inueniendi •• :T, (cid:127) even parts.
The last of these parts is actually a short ars metrica (inc.: Nunc
de aeptima larticula dicendum est, scilicet, de rltliimorum formacione::::-),
wliich sets orth summarily thar\iles for writiiig accentual Latin verse--
but using a set of terms apparently derived from contemporary vernacular
practice. The bulk of this little treatise is dedicated to strophe and
verse forms. Four basic strophe types are recognized, all quatrains: 1) ars
comunis • abab; 2) ara reali• • abba; 3) disco{• aaab; 4) linamcapi or -
linguamcapi (a gener1Ctera referring also to coplas encadenadaa)• abbc cdde
effg, etc.
Only two verse lengtha are diacuased in detail: The ara minor has
end
eight syllables per line, although only seven if it (cid:127) in&n oxytone or
a proparoxytone. When line lanqth (cid:127) vary, they should do so in accord with
the rhyme scheaeJ e.g., a quatrain rhyming 8a7b8a7b. In di•cor it is better
to rhyme 8a8a8a7b than 7a7a7a8b. The ars maior has 12 syllables per line,
or 11 if the line and(cid:127) in an oxytone. Proparoxytonic line endings ar6 not
permitted. Again, certain combinations of line lengths are favored over
others: 1) 12Al1B ia called directa, 11Al2B, indirecta, 12Al2B, plena.
Preferred (cid:127) trophe fora (cid:127) for the ara maior are the ars reali (cid:127) (ABBA) and
linguamcapi (ABBCCDDE); ars coaaunis (ABAB) ia also permlasibla. Diacor
(aaab) I(cid:127) acceptable only°Tn ara minor.
After a set of example (cid:127) or-1Inea of varying lengths, from seven syllables
per line up to 31 syllables par line, the anonymous author terminates his
discussion with a aeries of rules on perfect and imperfect rhyme and assonance.
Of particular intere (cid:127) t are hi (cid:127) reatrictiona on conaonant groups in rhyme
position. A line ending in a •aillaba fecund•• (C+l/r) must rhyme with a
line having the same ending; the same rule holds for •sillabaa pragnantea",
which are (cid:127) imply checked syllables, particularly when checked by m,n,l,r, or
••
The terminology u(cid:127) ed in this ~raatiae offers similarities and divergences
from that used in the cancionero poetry of the fifteenth century. Arte comun,
arte real, and discort are all found in Castilian; but they are differently
ai'lrnecr:- In the Canclonero de Baena,~ comuna pparently refers to what
the Proven~al treatises callcoblas singulars; i.e., each strophe of a poem
comun
has its own rhymes. Santillana, however, opposes ,ll.tl to arte mayor
in the Prohemio; by implication the former is the octosyllable. For Encina
the opposition lies between arte mayor and arte real; the latter is explicitly
the octosyllable. Thus arterail and arte coiinln, apparently names of
strophes to start with, become, throug~sort of metonymic transference,
the names of verse lengths. The 4iscort in both Proven~al and Caatilian
refers to both theme and form, being an expression of unrequited love with
rhyme patterns and line lengths which vary from strophe to strophe, or a
poem written in several different languages. In our treatise the term discor
obviously refers to the zejel. Finally, the rather opaque term linguamcapi
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
6
covers several different techniques, all of which involve the repetition of
an element at the end of one line or strophe and at the beginning of the
next. In the vernacular similar practices are called lexa-prende or coplaa
encadenadas.
The ars minor and ars maior are defined strictly in ayllabic terms.
our theoretician thus anticipates Juan del Encina's formulation of the
arte maror as a 12-syllable line, without regard to its accentual nature.
Tliedef nitions of the three sub-species of the ara maior and the proscrip
tion of proparoxytones in rhyme position have no counterpart• in the ver
nacular. In the ars minor the rule requiring that a verse which ends in a
paroxytone or an oxytone have seven rather that eight syllable• conflicts
partially with Castilian metrics (where the eadruiula ha• nine (cid:127) yllablea)
but is in accord with medieval Latin accentual versa, where the laat ayllable
of a proparoxytone is given a secondary stress and thus equated with an
oxytone:
, - , - , - , - paroxytone
, - , - , - , oxytone
, - , - , - , proraroxytone
The sources of this metrical treat se are still unknown. It seems
highly unlikey that it is derived from works composed in any of the Romance
vernaculars. A perusal of the Catalan, Proven9al, French, Galician, and
Italian treatises has revealed no parallels. Latin artea metricae, rhe
torics, or artes poetriae may have bean the original sourcea; but it aaema
more likely that the author simply adapted terms familiar to him fr0111 con
temporary poetic practice.
Thu• this work represent (cid:127) another (cid:127) tap in the gradual infiltration of
vernacular literature into the sphere of influence of medieval Latin--•
process which was cut (cid:127) hort in the second half of the fifteenth century by
the importation of Italian humanism, which brought, a(cid:127) a conaequence, the
complete divorce of the Latin and vernacular literature (cid:127)• Thi (cid:127) t.reati (cid:127) e
also repreaenta the first detailed reflection of Caatilian poetic theory,
anterior probably by half a century to Nebrija. Aa auch it daaervea the
close attention of students of cancionaro poetry.
(No abstract available)
Robert Stevenson, University of California, IDs Angeles
Please note a change in the program: Stephen Nichols (Dartmouth College)
is unable to participate in the Session.
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
7
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS TO BE PRESENTED AT SPECIAL SESSION: HISTORY,NARRATIVE
AND DICTION IN THE LATE CASTILIAN EPIC: TRENDS IN CONTEMPORARYR ESEARCH,
28 DECEMBER1 977, 10:15-11:30 A.M., ROOM4 15, CONRAD HILTON. DISCUSSION
LEADER: SALVADORM ARTINEZ, NEWY ORKU NIVERSITY
FORJ«JLAICD ICTION IN THE MOCBDADEDSE RODRIGO
John Geary, University of California-Berkeley
The question of calculating the formulaic density of a poem and of eval
uating ita significance waa given a new slant by Joseph Duggan in 1973 with
the publication of his The Song of Roland: Formulaic Style and Poetic Craft.
Duggan utilized the computer-genirated key-word-in-context coiicordance to
compare French epic and romance and to extract from both genres evidence of
formulaic style. In comparing formulaic density in ten French epics with that
of three romances known to have been composed in writing, he found that the
learned works as a whole were only 16 percent formulaic while those thought
to have been improvised orally and later committed to writing were 29.8 per
cent foraulaic on the average.
Several acholara--hoping to discover a clear dividing line in terms of
formulaic density between oral and written modes of composition--have since
att911ptad to apply the (cid:127) cience of numbers to Spanish epic as well as to non
epic material. Unfortunately, the technique of selecting textual samples at
random and of analyzing the formulaic content of these fragments has remained
popular despite Duggan'• warning that the shorter the sample considered, the
lea (cid:127) chance that it will be representative of the entire text in question.
(Let us recall that Lord has picked a sample of the first ten lines of the
Roland's laisae 105 and found twelve formulas or 60 percent of the hemistichs
considered. Had he chosen to examine the 27 lines of laiases 34 and 35, he
would have found the material to be 15 percent formulaic).
Because I believe the random sample technique ineffectual, I have compiled
a key-word-in-context concordance of the Mocedades de Rodrigo from which I
have extracted and atudied all of the poem's formulie. I have followed
Duggan'• definition of a formula aa •a hamistich found two or more ti~~s in
aubatantially the same form within the poem• in order to be able to re.ate
the percentage of pure formulae in the Mocedadea to the set of statistics
arrived at for the French material.
As far as I can tell, the poem contains approximately 14 percent pure
formulae, a figure which place (cid:127) it slightly below the Franch romances in terms
of formulaic density, Margaret Chaplin (•oral-formulaic Style in the Epic•)
conaidered only samples from the poem and arrived at a percentage of 17.S.
This figure, though slightly higher than my own, would, nevertheless, corrobo
rate the low percentage of formulae in the poem. If one were to require three
or more occurrences of a given expression for it to constitute a formula, then
the percentage of pure formulae in the work is much lower, approximating 5 or
6 percent. On the baaia of a formulaic analysis of the text, then, the Moce-
dadea would appear to be learned. --
MEDIEVALS PANISH EPIC AND EUROPEAN NARRATIVE TRADITIONS
Johns. Miletich, University of Utah
To what extent the repetitive diction of medieval Spanish epics reflects
the poetics of oral style remains a highly controversial queation. It seems
that the principal reason for this state of affairs is the lack of extensive
descriptive data resulting from a study of traditional as well as learned
materials which draw on the traditional, not only in the Hispanic but also
in other European traditions whose poetics in a number of ways are similar.
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
8
In an attempt to shed further light on this problem, approximately 7,000
verse lines of both traditional and learned narrative texts have been
analyzed. The traditional corpus includes early peninsular Spanish and IIOdern
Judea-Spanish romances of Morocco, South Slavic eighteenth, nineteenth and
twentieth-century heroic texts, and nineteenth-century Russian material.
Extensive analysis has also been made of such learned works as South Slavic
eighteenth-century deliberate imitations, while some preliminary work has
been done on the Croatian and Serbian literary epics, and on Garcia Lorca's
Romancero gitano.
The method of analysis consists in the classification of six different
types of successive repetitions occurring within the same text. The first
four categories involve to some extent a recurrence of the same idea while
the last two types do not. By calculating the total number of unita in the
first four categories where such retardation is present as against those in
which it is absent, a numerical ratio of styles can be eatabliahed indicating
the relation between an "elaborate style" and an •essential style.• Frca
the resulting data it is possible to see clearly which repetitions are domi
nant in traditional and learned styles and whether it is possible to establish
a general tendency by which we can distinguish a traditional style from a
learned one.
Data will be offered based on a similar analys~is 03o f the Cantar de Mio
Cid and the Serbo-Croatian Pjesma od Bagdata/1he of Ba,dad/, whlchwI'll
~interpreted in the context of tne results olita n tlius ar through this
type of analysis. Preliminary observations in the same light will also be
made regarding the Mocedadea de Rodrigo.
THE DICTION OF THE MOCEDADEDSE RODRIGO
Ruth H. Webber, The Universltyof Chicago
If there is any aspect of the Mocedades de Rodrigo upon which there ia
general agreement, it ia that the poem la uns1ulifuily composed. Deyarmond
has 9onunented upon the awkward and erratic use of epithets and haa called
attention to the occasional appearance of certain formulas similar to thoaa
found in other epic texts as well as to the poet's penchant for enumerative
series.
The presenre of traditional formulas is in itself lesa significant than
how they are Uti~u, whether they are employ~tl consistently and (cid:127) yatematically
in accord with their position in the hemistich and/or aaaonantal needs. The
principal categories of formulas found in the Cantar de mio Cid and the roaan·
~, that is, the formulas that make up the linguistic itr'uctiire of the
verse, are the general introductions, the introductions to dialogue and to
action, formulas of dialogue and of action, adverbial modifier (cid:127) , and, of
course, epithets and invocations of God. Since with the exception of epithet•
they are more utilitarian than attention-attracting, they are l••• apt to be
the result of literary borrowing and hence offer a valid measure of the
presence of formulaic diction.
The introductions to dialogue, for example, form in the Cid an extensive
yet flexible system based on the pattern of interlocutory verD(dacir, hablar,
responder) plus subject (usually a title or two-part name), which may be
prec~ded by an emphatic adverb as verse-opener: Ffablo myo Cid, Essora dixo
el C1d, etc. In the Mocedades there is evidence of the exiatence of th.
same system, but the forms with the initial adverb are disproportionately
favored: in first p~ace, Esaas ~~el rey, aecond, Alli dixo
el conde (v. 630) while the basic pattern of verb plus noun aubjec-r-I's-nirrd;
~ is the verb form that is almost always used, and a number of other
var1~nts a~d alternate forms are not to be found at all. In addition, in a
not 1ncons1derable number of cases a simple~ is intercala~ed in mid-
Goog l e Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
hemistich in lieu of a full hemistich formula, a device that one would not
expect to find in an oral text. By and large this is the situation through
out the Mocedadea: the fundamental formulas are not only more limited
quantitatively than in the Cid or the romancero but they are also more re
stricted in type and the ••--formula Is likely to be repeated over and over,
or they may be eliminated altogether in favor of a similar but non-traditional
phrase. The very fact that a reduced number of formulas recurs frequently
gives an impression of gre~ter formulicity than is actually the case, an im
pression intensified by the poet's addiction to repetitive aeries, which are
one of the obvious characteristics of the ballad as wall as of the epic.
· A study of the diction of the Mocedades reveals a traditional base often
overlaid, modified or completely altered by a poet well-versed in both epic
and ballad who reworked and elaborated for hia own purposes the original can
lli. de gaata in emulation of epic style. Thia agrees with the first partol
Deyermond 1a conclusions, but his contention that the poem was subsequently
diffused by juglaras cannot be aubatantiated. The text in the form in which
we have it was meant to be read, not sung.
THE MOCEDADEDSB RODRIGOA ND NEO-INDIVIDUALIST THEORY
S.G. Armi(cid:127) taad-;-unlver (cid:127) ity of Pennsylvania
For more than a decade now, a number of investigators of the Medieval
Castilian epic have been moving in directions diametrically opposed to those
set forth by the •nao-traditionaliat• theory so long and so eloquently
defended by Ramdn Mendndez Pidal. Armed with impeccable scholarly credentials
and with rigorous philological method, a variety of scholars, principally,
but not exclusively, from Britain, have in a aeries of meticulously researched
studies, attempted, in eaaence, to breathe new life into the aged,
•individualiat• thesis of Joseph Bediar, by bringing to light new evidence,
some of it incontrovertible, bearing directly upon thoaa few texts of the
Caatilian epic which have bean preserved in their original rhymed form. The
result of these efforts has been a complete,eminently healthy, and welcome
reappraisal of scholarship centering around the two major monuments of the
Castilian epic: the Cantar de Mio Cid and the ll>cedadea de Rodrigo. Perhaps
the most important starting point for what we might call tliia neo-individual
ist uprising in epic scholarship is Alan D. Deyermond'a crucial monograph,
Poetry and the Clergy (published in 1969), concerning the Mocedades.
~
Wit1i praiseworthy scholarship and exhaustively researched documentation,
Deyarmond ha(cid:127) shown that the epic poem preserved on the final folios of
Biblioth~que Nationala Manuacrit Espagnol 138 embodies church-inspira<L
propaganda in favor of the diocese of Palencia. The Mocedadea de Rodrigo
and Deyermoncl'a findings are, then, crucial. Thay are at the very heart of
neo-individualiat theory. Deyermond has proved his point, but aubsequent
scholarship haa tended to interpret the presence of clerical intervention in
the particular version of the Mocedades studied by Deyarmond as a blanket
confirmation of the learned and clerical nature, and indeed of the clerical
origins, of the Castilian epic. It is, however, inexact to speak of the
poem in question as the Mocedades and of the individual who wrote it as its
author. The poem stuc!Ied by Deyarmond is nothing more than one link in a
traditional continuum which extends from before 1300 until after lS00and taking
the Romancero into account, on up into the 20th century. The •author" is
at most a refundidor. At least six different traditional versions of the
Mocedades narrative can be documented between the late 13th and the mid-16th
centuries. With reference to all of the Castilian epics, such historiographic
and balladic documentation of the traditional trajectories of epic narratives
must be taken into account in weighing the merits of the individualist thesis.
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN
1(
ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS TO BE PRESENTED AT SPEX:IAL SESSION: CONTEMPORARY
TRENOO IN LA CELESTINA CRITICISM, 29 DECEMBER 1977, 2:45-4:00 P.M., ROOM
522, CONRAi>HILTON. DISCUSSION LF.ADER: ADRIENNES CHIZZANO MANDEL,
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
CELESTINESCA: THE FIRST YEAR
Joseph Snow, University of Georgia
After exactly one calendar year since the public announcement of hi•
intention to edit an international newsletter devoted to the Celestina and
its generic counterparts. Snow will speak to the group about how the vi
sion became reality, about reactions from the scholarly and non-scholarly
community about what has already been accomplished and about what yet could
and must be done in order for CELESTINFSCA to reach 10~ of the audience it
ought to be reaching. He hopes to begin a dialogue with the audience and
hear suggestions, welcome ideas. and initiate plans for'the Second Year.
Other abstracts unavail~ble.
Google Original from
Digitized by UNIVERSITYO F MICHIGAN