Manuscript Diversity, Meaning, And Variance in Juan Manuel's El Conde Lucanor

by De Looze, Laurence

• ISBN13: 9780802090577
• ISBN10: 0802090575
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-07
• Publisher: Univ of Toronto Pr

Summary

Juan Manuel's El Conde Lucanor was arguably one of the great masterworks of early modern Spain. Although the work appears in five very different manuscript versions from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries, most modern editions of El Conde Lucanor have neglected to account for the fact that it was part of a manuscript tradition, and that its meaning is substantially affected when its original forms are not taken in to account.With Manuscript Diversity, Meaning, and Variance in Juan Manuel's El Conde Lucanor, Laurence de Looze demonstrates how the meaning of Juan Manuel's work changes depending on how the work is 'performed' in particular manuscripts. This study proceeds from the assumption that, in a pre-printing press world, each new copy or 'performance' of a work creates new meaning. By adopting this approach and by focusing on Parts II-V of the texts, de Looze argues thatEl Conde Lucanor raises questions about the interretation, intelligibility, and the production of knowledge. De Looze's complex and nuanced reading sheds new light on an important work and makes a significant contribution to medieval studies, Spanish studies, and the history of the book.

Author Biography

Laurence De Looze is a professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature at the University of Western Ontario.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
PART ONE: INTRODUCTORY MATTERS
1 Introduction	3	(23)
2 Characterizing the Early Texts	26	(38)
3 Dividing the Text: The Manuscripts and Modern Editions	64	(29)
PART TWO: EL CONDE LUCANOR, BOOK I
4 El Conde Lucanor and Analogy	93	(24)
5 The Problematics of Signification	117	(16)
6 Exemplum XXXIX	133	(15)
7 Exemplum XXI	148	(11)
8 Exemplum XXIV	159	(26)
PART THREE: EL CONDE LUCANOR, BOOKS II—V
9 Book II	185	(28)
10 Book III	213	(12)
11 Book IV	225	(13)
12 Book V	238
PART FOUR: CONCLUDING MATTERS	13	(260)
Conclusion	261	(12)
Appendix I Figures	273	(12)
Appendix II Manuscript Orderings of Exempla	285	(4)
Notes	289	(34)
Works Cited	323	(14)
Index	337