‘La bonita confiancita’: Deception, Trust and the Figure of Poetry in La gitanilla

Abstract

Traditional readings of La gitanilla as an idealizing romance have been challenged by scholars who point to ‘subversive’ elements in the novel. But it is possible to resolve this difference by re-examining the commonplace view of Preciosa as a figure of poetry. Although she is portrayed as both ‘desenvuelta’ and ‘honesta’, this paradox does not produce a contradiction because the narrative describes a process whereby Preciosa is transformed from a deceptive gypsy, who uses her talents for mercenary ends, into an ideal embodiment of beauty and truth. The turning-point is the emergence of a bond of trust between the girl and the two rivals for her love; only then does the picaresque ethos of the gypsy world yield abruptly to the procedures of romance. In this perspective, the action of La gitanilla acquires a metafictional significance which sheds light on Cervantes’ ideas on the nature of his creative activity. He draws on both romance and the picaresque in order to address the Platonist issue of the ‘lie’ of art, and has recourse to the notion of trust between author and reader in order to defend his belief that literature can overcome deception and convey a form of truth.