141
Spadaccini seems to accept too readily that Cervantes had lost interest in staging his comedias and entremeses and decided to publish them instead. Cory Reed reminds us that the author's wish to «darlas a la estampa»
explains why they were published, but not why they were left unstaged (64-65). (N. from the A.)
142
In problematizing Bakhtin, Peter Stallybrass and Allon White base their arguments on the questioning of carnival as «licensed release»
by Terry Eagleton, Roger Sales, and George Balandier; their conclusion, that «the dialectic of antagonism frequently turned rituals into resistance»
, even when there had been no opposition previously, involves carnival in the ever-changing dynamics of power relations (13-16). (N. from the A.)
143
«Through pranks, jokes and other kinds of antidotes to the conventions of language and thought, and through a series of what Pierre Macherey calls "voids and absences", those "popular" comic pieces bypass the horizon of expectation of the theater -going common- man [sic] and afford the perceptive reader the possibility of laughing at the deceiving idealisms of official culture»
(167). (N. from the A.)
144
From the Navidad y Corpus Christi festejados (Madrid 1664), it appears as No. 267 in Cotarelo y Mori (623-626). (N. from the A.)
145
Spadaccini points out the negative results that ensue from reading the interludes: «Unlike the spectator who is distracted by songs, music and lascivious dances which often end the performance of an entremés in a theater, the reader is deprived of those multiple sensorial experiences. He must be content to imagine a joyful ending to the play while remaining conscious of the fact that basic conflicts are left unresolved»
(166) (N. from the A.).
146
Although space does not allow me to comment on all of them, Cervantes's ambivalent portrayals of female protagonists are also evinced in his other entremeses. Thus, Eugenio Asensio finds Leonarda of La cueva de Salamanca an inconsistent protagonist, but attributes this to generic convention: «El entremés, para acabar en alborozo festivo, suele olvidar o descuidar otras consideraciones como la lógica del carácter»
(Entremeses 22) (N. from the A.).
147
This and all following citations are taken from Nicholas Spadaccini's edition of the Entremeses. (N. from the A.)
148
According to Covarrubias, «la venta de las cosas, pública, que se haze con intervención de la justicia y ante escrivano y con ministro público, dicho pregonero, porque en alta voz propone la cosa que se vende, y el precio que dan por ella... "Almoneda es dicha el mercado de las cosas que son ganadas en guerra, e apreciadas por dineros cada una quanto vale, etc."»
(101). In his edition, Spadaccini notes that modern editors Juan Bautista Avalle-Arce and Eugenio Asensio have modified the editio principe from «almodonees» to «almonedees»: «en el sentido de poner (o pregonar como) en almoneda»
. Domingo Yndurain, for his part, believes that the original term should remain, since it recalls «almadenees» in its meaning of «machaques» (97). In its polyvalence, Cervantes's choice is eminently justified. (N. from the A.)
149
The pun has been interpreted to refer to Cañizares's impotency alone; see Fernández de Cano y Martín for a close reading of the interlude's erotic language. (N. from the A.)
150
For Ariosto's influence on Cervantes, see Chevalier and Hart, although neither has addressed the appearance of these protagonists in Cervantes's interlude. (N. from the A.)