111
Pavel describes utopias as fictional constructs that depend on worlds «more actual» than themselves; utopias reshape their constituent worlds into something new and different. He identifies utopian fictional worlds with transformation and aperture (110-12).
Castro has written of Cervantes's concept of Christianity:
«Su cristianismo, según veremos,
recuerda, en ocasiones, más a Erasmo que a Trento»
(256). Castro also emphasizes Cervantes's religious
tolerance, citing
La española inglesa to support his
opinion (287-89), and noting that the author had a Christian attitude of
«amor y comprensión del
prójimo»
(291). Bataillon
characterizes Cervantes's religious beliefs as essentially orthodox in nature,
but with tolerance that would let him include all Christians in a unified,
communal whole (796-97). (N. from the A.)
112
In fact, Cervantes's detailed description of financial
transactions in the tale has been regarded by some as flawed technique, the
lack of narrative control of an immature author: «El interés en las transacciones comerciales podría
equilibrarse con la creencia en los polvos de unicornio, como manifestaciones
opuestas de la dificultad para el escritor que está aún
fabricando sus instrumentos narrativos, de ceñirse a la trama y de
resolverla por medios perfectamente verosímiles»
(Rodríguez-Luis 1: 53). Johnson 400-16 interprets the
novela's financial details
differently, concluding that «Cervantes eliminates aristocratic
protagonists in favor of the bourgeoisie. When Cervantes belabors the financial
infrastructure of the bourgeois lifestyle, he is insisting on the emergence of
the bourgeoisie onto center stage in both history and fiction»
(408). (N. from the A.)
113
Castro 245 identifies Cervantes's religious belief as one of adherence to the Catholic Church, but with faith tempered by rational, critical thought. Bataillon 785-91 states that Cervantes shared Erasmus's disdain for religious hypocrisy in general, and insincere rituals and sham miracles in particular, but that he also shared Erasmus's belief in genuine acts of devotion, meaningful religious ceremonies, and true miracles, as well as in an active Christian life of good works and acts of charity. (N. from the A.)
114
On Cervantes's concept of community, and reading and writing as communal acts, see Forcione «Afterword», especially 346-51. (N. from the A.)
115
Cervantes, Miguel de, Teatro Completo. Edición, introducción y notas de Florencio Sevilla Arroyo y Antonio Rey Hazas. Barcelona, España: Editorial Planeta, 1987, pp. 385-86 ll. 422-60. This edition is used throughout for quotations and reference. (N. from the A.)
116
«CRISOL.s.m. Vaso de cierta
tierra arenífica, de la hechura y forma de un medio huevo, en que los
plateros funden el oro y la plata»
. (Covarrubias
Orozco, Sebastián.
Tesoro de la lengua castellana o
española. (Madrid: Ediciones Turner, 1611. p. 66). (N. from
the A.)
117
Tarasí «is the
Turkish equivalent of sastre, used in the germanía in the sense of
'ladrón or estafador que corta bolsas o emplea artimañas para
despojar a la gente de su dinero'
. (Alonso Hernández,
LMSO, s. v.)» Likewise,
cortar is linked to stealing, as
in the term cortabolsas (cut-purse). (Ottmar Hegyi,
Cervantes and the Turks: Historical Reality
versus Literary Fiction in La gran sultana and El amante liberal. Juan de
la Cuesta, Newark, Delaware, 1992. p. 154.) (N. from the A.)
118
Remiendo: a patch of cloth and a correction or emendation. Retazo: a remnant of cloth or a fragment of a speech or essay. (N. from the A.)
119
The situation of Cristián and Catalina reverses that of Ejemplo 32 of El conde Lucanor. While the weavers of Ejemplo 32 play on their subjects' greed and their fear of revealing illegitimacy, Cristián's plan to finance his family's return to Spain is built upon his legitimate blood tie to Catalina, though both father and daughter are slaves and therefore lack the full legal rights of free men. Jean Canavaggio has explored other probable connections between Madrigal and the false weavers of Ejemplo 32 (Canavaggio, «Huella»). (N. from the A.)
120
«There is a fragment by Callimachus on the Age of
Saturn, in which animals have the power of speech (this being a symbol of the
Golden Age which preceded the emergence of the intellect -Man- when the blind
forces of Nature, not yet subject to logos, were endowed with all sorts of
extraordinary and exalted qualities). Hebrew and Islamic traditions also
include references to 'speaking animals'»
(Cirlot 11).
(N. from the A.)