Estimados colegas,

El tema 19 será el último del Coloquio Cervantes.  Favor de comentar 
respecto a éste o los anteriores, que todavía están en vigencia, hasta 
finales de este mes.

Saludos cordiales de

Los editores
KR & ARL

Decimonoveno tema de discusión:
(DICIEMBRE)

Coloquio Cervantes
Foro coordinado por Kurt Reichenberger & A. Robert Lauer

Para responder a este tema, favor de mandar un mensaje a 
<[log in to unmask]>
o a los archivos del foro:
<http://lists.ou.edu/archives/cervantes-l.html>

Some Critical Remarks Regarding the «Curioso impertinente»

           The great edition of Francisco Rico contains two large 
commentaries on the «Curioso impertinente»1. Nevertheless it might be 
advisable to give the items some thought. Cervantes has developed a special 
way to tackle the problems. He reports.
           By reading romances of chivalry day and night, Don Quixote went 
mad. Period. The books in his library, condemned by the parson--who 
graduated from Sigüenza--are burned. Period.
           In the few short dialogues between the parson and Maese Nicolás, 
the barber, there appears, however, a rudimentary way to comment on what 
happens or has happened2. After the brawl with Cardenio, Don Quixote and 
Sancho discuss the affair of queen Madásima. A brilliant example for 
similar ironic commentaries is given when the parson, in the dispute on the 
books of chivalry, asks the women what they think of the matter. The wife 
of the innkeeper, the Asturian servant Maritornes, and the innkeeper's 
attractive daughter answer freely, and reveal by their answers a variety of 
ironically tainted viewpoints, apt to elucidate the controversial matter. 
Cervantes himself does not come to the fore. As usual, he leaves it to the 
personages of his novel to utter what he means, approves or detests.
           The way Cervantes stages the «Novela del curioso impertinente» 
is completely different. When the innkeeper shows him the manuscript, the 
parson has a look at it. Also, Cardenio likes the way the story begins, and 
he begs the parson to read it aloud to the assembled company. At the end of 
the tragical novella, the parson utters a fundamental dislike but there is 
no discussion at all, thanks to the ingenious staging of Cervantes. New 
guests are arriving. While the innkeeper and the women are busy receiving 
them, Dorotea hides her face with a veil, and Cardenio disappears into the 
next room. In other words, Cervantes leaves it to the reader to consider 
the reasons intimated by the parson. Thereforc, it might be advisable to 
compare them to another comment he utters. In chapter six, Pero Pérez tops 
with the «Galatea», and the analysis he gives is self-complacent, but all 
the same most competent. Holding a copy in his hands he says: «Muchos años 
ha que es grande amigo mío ese Cervantes, y sé que es más versado en 
desdichas que en versos. Su libro tiene algo de buena invención: propone 
algo, y no concluye nada: es menester esperar la Segunda parte que promete: 
quizá con la emienda alcanzará del todo la misericordia que ahora se le 
niega»3.
           This is a clear-sighted self-criticism of Cervantes. In the case 
of «El curioso impertinente», his comment runs like this: «Bien --dijo el 
cura-- me parece esta novela, pero no me puedo persuadir que esto sea 
verdad: y si es fingido, fingió mal el autor, porque no se puede imaginar 
que haya marido tan necio que quiera hacer tan costosa experiencia como 
Anselmo. Si este caso se pusiera entre un galán y una dama, pudiérase 
llevar, pero entre marido y mujer, algo tiene de imposible; y en lo que 
toca al modo de contarle, no me descontenta». Rico remarks in a note that 
«imposible» is an Italianism and that property is a basic concept in the 
art of Cervantes4.
           Lacking verisimilitude, as practised in the Italianizing 
novelle, seems to him a fundamental defect. And he wants to demonstrate his 
viewpoint by a convincing example. Taking into consideration the title of 
the «Novelas ejemplares» he wants to criticize the shortcomings of the 
genre imported from Italy byy exaggerating, by skilfull mockery. Seen from 
this angle, the «Curioso impertinente» reveals to be a cunning parody of 
the Italian novelle and their most cherished motifs. In other words, the 
only aspect of the «Curioso impertinente» worth mentioning is the way the 
author has told the story – «lo que toca al modo de contarle». All the rest 
is – rubbish.

Notes

           1 Compare the lecturas of Hans-Jörg Neuschafer in the edition of 
Francisco Rico. Barcelona 1997, vol. II, pp. 75-77; 77-80 and 80-82. See 
also Yvonne Jehenson, "Masoquismo versus Machismo or: Camila`s Re-Writing 
of Gender Assignations in Cervantes`s Tale of Foolish Curiosity." Cervantes 
18 (1998) 25-52, and Nicolas Wey-Gómez, "The Jealous and the Curious: 
Freud, Paranoia and Homosexuality in Cervantine Poetics." In: Cervantes and 
His Postmodern Constituencies, ed. Ann J. Cruz and Carroll B. Johnson. New 
York 1999, pp. 177-198.
           2 With respect to the Chapter on the Burning of the Books see 
the excellent article of Sylvia Roubaud in the edition of Francisco Rico, 
o.c., vol. I, pp. 28-30. – José García Oro, Los reyes y los libros: la 
política libraria de la Corona en el Siglo de Oro. 1475-1598. Madrid 1995, 
and Henri Kamen, The Spanish Inquisition: A Historical Revision. New York 
1998.
           3 Ed. Cit., vol. I, p.86.
           4 Ed. Cit., vol. I, p. 423.

Kurt Reichenberger