Reading to Pieces: Divisio Textus and the Structure of El Conde Lucanor

Abstract

Recent criticism on the CondeLucanorhas become increasingly con- cerned with elements of subversion, ambiguity, aporia and even para- dox in a collection of tales that is conventionally viewed as univocally didactic, and transparently informed byJuan Manuel's political life and aristocratic world view.1 The scholarly opinion that the Conde Lucanor is essentially a closed work with a stable structure and delib- erate thematic organization still appears to be accepted among many hispanomedievalists. Anibal Biglieri has argued that the meaning of Juan Manuel's exempta can be discovered in their allegorical dimen- sions that resonate with the author's medieval ethical field of refer- ence, and ultimately cap the entire collection by providing it with an isomorphic interpretive frame (211-14). More recently, Fernando Gomez Redondo writes that Juan Manuel transformed his political desires and frustrations into fiction, giving birth to an entire opus that displays a unique balance of literary creativity and medieval political philosophy (1093-95).2 Following another critical path paved by scholars such as Peter Dunn and James Burke, a shift in the discussion ofJuan Manuel's di- dacticism leans toward an appreciation of the author's sense of the contingency of language, the open and unpredictable nature of the