Diego de San Pedro, Cárcel de Amor
As you read the Cárcel de Amor, locate the quotations printed below, and try to work out what you think their significance might be in terms of the general thematics of the sentimental romance. To help you, think about the following questions and make notes under each heading:
* Role of the narrator – why does Cárcel begin and end with a reference to real events that seem to be contemporary with the author’s own life? What is the narrator’s attitude to Leriano and Laureola? To love? What is his role in the development of the love affair?
* The themes of word and deed ─why are these categories important?
* The position of women in court society ─what is Cárcel hinting at here? Look at Leriano’s defense of women and find out what you can about the women he mentions. Can you group them into types? Do any of them have anything relevant in common?
* Illusion and memory ─what function does the allegorical prison have? How is it tied into the ending of Cárcel? How is time treated in Cárcel?
* Love: how is love treated and experienced by the different characters? What varieties or types of love relationship are portrayed?
* Power: which characters hold power over whom? How do they exercise that power?
Find the following quotations in the text. Who says them? What is their significance to the themes of Cárcel as a whole?
i) me crié entre honbres de buena criança, usaré contigo de la gentileza que aprendí y no de la braveza de mi natural
ii) Noté más, que dos dueñas lastimeras con rostros llorosos y tristes le servían y adornavan, poniéndole con crueza en la cabeça una corona de unas puntas de hierro sin ninguna piedad
iii) porque un honbre de nación estraña ¿qué forma se podrá dar para negociación semejante?
iv) la muerte, sin que tú me la dieses yo mismo me la daría, por hallar en ella la libertad que en la vida busco, si tú no hovieses de quedar infamada por matadora
v) Tanta confusión me ponían las cosas de Laureola, que cuando pensava que más la entendía, menos sabía de su voluntad
vi) Cuánto mejor me estoviera ser afeada por cruel que amanzillada por piadosa
vii)dio a cada uno infinito dinero porque dixesen y jurasen al rey que vieron hablar a Leriano con Laureola en lugares sospechosos y lugares deshonestos
viii) en verdad tú eres injusto juez
ix) No pongas en peligro tu vida y en disputa mi honrra
Choose one of the following essays on Cárcel de Amor. An average essay for a supervision should be about six sides of A4 in medium-sized handwriting. Hand in essays at the Porters' Lodge as arranged.
1. The letter is the primary organising feature of San Pedro’s Cárcel de Amor. It is used to structure the sentimental romance and is a primary vehicle for narrative and thematic development. Give a critical assessment of the function of letters in the Cárcel de Amor.
2. On the basis of a comparison of the different characters’ attitudes and experiences, to what extent, if at all, can San Pedro be seen to offer a critique of love.
3. ‘In Cárcel de Amor San Pedro explores the persuasive power of language and shows that words and actions have equally damaging effects.’ Give a critical assessment of this view.
4. ‘The fundamental questioning of the power of language […] is the central preoccupation of the text, and finally provides an insight into the relationship between the author/Auctor as manipulators of language and creators of fiction to the world they have created’ [J. Gilkinson]. Discuss critically EITHER San Pedro’s manipulation of ‘el Auctor’ OR the idea that the power of language is a central theme of Cárcel de Amor.
5. Assess the arguments for and against a reading of Cárcel as a novela política. You may wish to discuss generic features and/or the plot/themes.
6. Give an analysis of the function of EITHER Leriano’s defence of women OR the planctus (formal lament) in Cárcel.
SOME RECOMMENDED READING FROM THE LECTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dunn, Peter N., 1979. ‘Narrator as Character in CA’, Modern Language Notes,94: 187-99; UL P760.b.16: one of two important articles on the narrator.
Gerli, E. Michael, 1989. ‘Metafiction in Spanish Sentimental Romances', in The Age of the Catholic Monarchs, 1474–1516: Literary Studies in Memory of Keith Whinnom, BHS, Special Issue, ed. Alan Deyermond & Ian Macpherson (Liverpool: UP), pp. 57‑63; UL P744.c.6.57(5): also deals with other sentimental romances but explains how metafiction is present and what its functions are.
Gilkison, Jean, 1994-95. ‘Language and Gender in DSP’s CA’, Journal of Hispanic Research, 3: 113-24; UL P L744.c.86: quite technical but excellent on language, power and gender.
Grieve, Patricia E., Desire and Death in the Spanish Sentimental Romance (1440‑1550) (Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta, 1987), chap. 2; UL 744:22.c.95.14; super on mimetic desire.
Haywood, Louise M., 2001. ‘Apuntes sobre la CA de DSP: La estructura externa’, Ínsula, 17: 17-18; UL pigeonhole 80 in West Reading Room; basic article on the structure.
Kurtz, Barbara E., 1983-84. ‘DSP’s CA and the Tradition of the Allegorical Edifice’, Journal of Hispanic Philology, 8: 123-38; UL P773.c.79: deals with allegorical prisons and the arts of memorization.
Mandrell, James, 1983-84. ‘Author and Authority in CA: The Role of El Autor’, Journal of Hispanic Philology,8: 99-122: UL P773.c.79; second important article on author/narrator.
Márquez Villanueva, Francisco, 1977. ‘CA, novela política', in his Relecciones de literatura medieval (Sevilla: Univ., 1977), pp. 75‑94; UL 743:12.d.95.25: very contentious article; is CA really political?
Whinnom, Keith, 1974. DSP, Twayne’s World Author Series, 310 (New York: Twayne); UL 744:22.d.95.1, ML MS7.SAN.P.200; thorough background.
——, 1979 Prison of Love (1492) together with the Continuation by Nicolás Núñez (1496), trans. Keith Whinnom, (Edinburgh: UP); UL 744:2.d.95.8.