Cervantes and Other Literary Circles

Abstract

Abstract As a continuation of an understanding of Cervantes’s rapport with other well-known writers of his day, this chapter explores the world of the literary academies, in which he interacted with aristocrats, court officials, soldiers, preachers, lawyers, playwrights, and theatre impresarios, among many others. Firstly, it offers a brief introduction into the academies that Cervantes knew and into the literary contests in which he participated by looking at Cervantes’s own satirical remarks throughout his work. Secondly, it adopts a chronological approach and considers Cervantes’s attendance of several academies in Seville and Madrid. His comments and allusions to the members of these literary circles, as made in works like the ‘Canto de Calíope’ [Song of Calíope] and the Viaje del Parnaso, allow us an appreciation of the relationship he maintained with his peers and patrons, and how these contributed to or impinged upon his work.