Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical settingVaeth, Joseph Anthony
History
Tirant lo Blanch; a study of its authorship, principal sources and historical setting
Vaeth, Joseph Anthony
Martorell, Joanot, -1468. Tirant lo Blanch
champion knight of the English court, the deliverer of the Knights of
Rhodes, the intrepid knight of the French king’s expedition against the
infidels, the missionary-conqueror of Barbary, and the liberator of the
Grecian Empire. Surely the spirit of the narration of these important
activities of Tirant is not satire.
[80] F.M. Warren, _A History of the Novel Previous to the
Seventeenth Century_, New York, 1895; pp. 173 and 175.
[81] ... and you may feel assured that on account of their
excellent rule, and their good and upright lives, they were taken
up to enjoy the glories of paradise.
This Catalan romance of chivalry may have been conceived in accordance
with the taste of Martorell’s times, but conditions have changed. The
standards by which we measure the actions of men now are not the same
as they were then. If an author wishes us to become enthusiastic in
our admiration for his hero, the latter must conform to our standards.
We insist that the protagonist be, above all, heroic from a moral
standpoint. If he lacks that attribute we cannot give him a full
measure of appreciation. An immoral hero is a paradox, an impossibility
with us of the present day; consequently we shall never be able to
regard Tirant lo Blanch as a great hero. But from the foregoing study
it may perhaps appear that the “cura’s” estimate, composed both of
enthusiasm and reprobation (as set forth in the passage quoted in the
opening paragraph), is not unworthy of the good sense and critical
acumen of the great Cervantes.
FINIS.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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española_, Madrid, 1861-1865.
ASHMOLE, ELIAS, _The Institution, Laws and Ceremonies of the
most Noble Order of the Garter_, London, 1672.
BONSOMS Y SICART, ISIDRO, and RUBIÓ Y LLUCH,
ANTONIO, _Discursos leídos en la Real Academia de Buenas Letras
de Barcelona en la recepción publica de D. Isidro Bonsoms y Sicart el
día 9 de Mayo de 1907_, Barcelona, 1907.
CALDERON, JUAN, _Cervantes vindicado en ciento y quince
pasajes del texto del ingenioso hidalgo_, Madrid, 1854.
CERVANTES, _El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha_,
edited and annotated by Francisco Rodríguez Marín, Madrid, 1911.
CERVANTES DE SAAVEDRA, MIGUEL DE, _El ingenioso hidalgo Don
Quijote de la Mancha_, with commentaries by Diego Clemencín, annotated
by Miguel de Toro Gómez, Paris, 1910.
CLÈDE, M. DE LA, _Histoire générale de Portugal_, Paris, 1735.
CUST, ELIZABETH, _The Stuarts of Aubigny_, London, 1891.
DENK, OTTO, _Einführung in die Geschichte der
altcatalanischen Litteratur_, Munich, 1893.
_Documents inédits sur l’histoire de France, première série_, Paris,
1862.
DUNLOP, JOHN COLIN, _History of Prose Fiction_, edited by
Henry Wilson, London, 1896.
GIVANEL MAS, JUAN, _Estudio crítico de Tirant lo Blanch_,
Madrid, 1912.
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