“Narrating the Ineffable Lepanto: The Austrias carmen of Joannes Latinus (Juan Latino)” by Elizabeth R. Wright

Abstract

Elizabeth Wright's essay on Joannes Latinus's epic poem Austrias carmen represents a major contribution to our field, as it recovers a long-lost voice of Spanish literature. It brings to light and calls attention to a figure vastly overlooked by modern critics, even though Latinus was prominent and famed within Spanish humanist circles during the Renaissance. The complex, compelling portrait of Latinus that emerges from Wright's essay places him among an illustrious breed of authors of self-declared mixed identity who, to different degrees and from different perspectives, challenged some of the basic European assumptions about others in the early modern period. This essay, together with Wright's forthcoming translation and edition of the Austrias carmen (an indispensable enterprise in itself), will surely end the critical neglect of Latinus and invite other scholars to follow in her footsteps. In no small measure due to Wright's fascinating analysis of this poem, Joannes Latinus will certainly become part of a corpus that already boasts authors such as Leo Africanus, Leone Hebreo, and the Inca Garcilaso. Moreover, Latinus's contribution to Spanish literature, which has already been the subject of study, will probably prove to be more significant than expected. Cervantes's mention of Latinus in the Urganda prefatory sonnet to Don Quijote attests, after all, to his obvious standing within the literary circles of his time, but the extent and specific nature of his presence remain to be explored. The most notable success of Wright's essay is her reading of Latinus's selfconscious identity difference within the poem itself. She convincingly shows