Text, body, and the early modern Spanish literary field in three Exemplary Novels of Cervantes

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between textualized bodies and the early modern Spanish literary field in three of Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares: La gitanilla, El licenciado vidriera, and the intertwined El casamiento engañoso/El coloquio de los perros. Each novel portrays initially marginalized characters whose textualized bodies are connected to their ultimate achievement of renown for their remarkable talents. Cervantes, moreover, links these tales to each other through the presence of the three licenciates in the collection, each of whom represents a distinct role in the literary field. The names of the three licenciates—Pozo, Rueda, and Peralta—reflect the prophecy at the center of El coloquio de los perros, which in turn represents the tension experienced by the dominant yet dominated author in pursuit of distinction.