Aquell lonch e molt cobejat besar: The Kiss as Transgression in Curial e Güelfa

Abstract

Curial e Güelfa is a Catalan romance often slighted by literary critics as too "affected" or lacking in style. Upon closer reading, this fascinating text undermines the rules of chivalric romance in innovative ways, for example, by subverting gender norms. The kiss functions as a signifier of women's control over the male protagonist and the subversion of the chivalric order. Through the various kisses observed in the text, we can follow the development of the male protagonist, the knight, Curial. Curial assumes the traditional feminine role in the romance, as passive recipient of the kisses bestowed by the woman, Güelfa, rather than the other way around. When the male protagonist finally demonstrates agency by bestowing a kiss of his own volition, he does so in a way that transgresses a pact he has made with his lover, Güelfa, thereby subjecting him to the control of another woman, Laquesis. The origins and inspiration for these literary innovations may find their roots in the Italian humanism present at the court of Alfonso V of Aragon, where the text was likely written.