Let’s Talk about Sex: Promiscuity, Social Critique, and Tragedy in La Celestina
Submission Type
Event
Expected Graduation Date
2015
Location
Room E101, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-18-2015 11:00 AM
End Date
4-18-2015 12:00 PM
Disciplines
Spanish and Portuguese Language and Literature
Abstract
Originally published as a work in 16 acts of dialogue in 1499 and republished as a complete 21 act version in 1502, the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, better known as La Celestina, is a hallmark work of Spanish literature that marks the cultural transition into the Early Modern Age, sometimes called the Siglo de Oro. A converso living in a society of Christian normativity, Fernando de Rojas, author of La Celestina, takes issue with the cultural, religious, and economic homogeneity of the enforced ideals of the newly-united Spain of the Catholic Monarchs in his only literary publication. To arrive at this end, de Rojas makes heavy use of illustrative language in many forms, which, in some cases, leads to both veiled and direct references to sexual activity. The correspondence of these euphemisms with the rising dramatic action of the work links the practice to the futility of the text’s main players. By his use of erotic language and dramatic ends, de Rojas provides acute critique of the increasing homogeneity of Early Modern Spain.
Let’s Talk about Sex: Promiscuity, Social Critique, and Tragedy in La Celestina
Room E101, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Originally published as a work in 16 acts of dialogue in 1499 and republished as a complete 21 act version in 1502, the Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea, better known as La Celestina, is a hallmark work of Spanish literature that marks the cultural transition into the Early Modern Age, sometimes called the Siglo de Oro. A converso living in a society of Christian normativity, Fernando de Rojas, author of La Celestina, takes issue with the cultural, religious, and economic homogeneity of the enforced ideals of the newly-united Spain of the Catholic Monarchs in his only literary publication. To arrive at this end, de Rojas makes heavy use of illustrative language in many forms, which, in some cases, leads to both veiled and direct references to sexual activity. The correspondence of these euphemisms with the rising dramatic action of the work links the practice to the futility of the text’s main players. By his use of erotic language and dramatic ends, de Rojas provides acute critique of the increasing homogeneity of Early Modern Spain.