Seneca and Celestina, and: Tragicomedy and novelistic discourse in Celestina (review)

142 Reviews perspective to guide one through an increasingly maze-like subject Michael and Elizabeth Jeffreys Department of Modern Greek University of Sydney Fothergill-Payne, L., Seneca and Celestina, Cambridge, C. U. P., 1988; cloth; pp. xvii, 172; 5 figures; R. R. P. AUS$85.00 and Severin, D., Tragicomedy and novelistic discourse in Celestina, Cambridge, C. U. P., 1989; cloth; pp. ix, 143; 9 figures; R. R. P. AUS$93.50. Cambridge University Press has recendy brought out two very different studies on Celestina. While the study by Severin is a fairly disappointing rehearsal of previously published material, the book by Fothergill-Payne encourages us to a provocative reinterpretation of the work. Previous authors have identified the Senecan (and Petrarchan) sources of Celestina, but Fothergill-Payne's study suggests the importance of Senecan references for an interpretation of the text that is both persuasive and consistent with its fifteenth century origins and literary context The author proposes nothing less than that the originality of the Celestina resides in itsfictionalizationof the sententious morality of its times. However, expression of this classical morality goes well beyond the metaphoric representation of a particular issue. Celestina brings both moral actions and their consequences alive and incorporates within the text the language in which those moral points were popularly expressed. Quotation and parody of ethical wisdom is achieved with such naturalness through the characterizations in the Celestina that many modern readers fail to appreciate the Senecan source or the often subtle transformations of the original aphorisms. Fothergill-Payne's study is much more than an identification of the Celestina's Senecan and Petrarchan sources. In chapters three to six, she leads the reader through a close reading of the text with reference to its key thematic points, demonstrating that these cannot be separated from its Senecan references. Insights about the transformation of Seneca's sententiae which are presented in the book's introductory chapters are made concrete in these chapters devoted to text analysis. Major themes, such as love, friendship, servant/master relationships, anger, greed, rewards, gifts, and grieving are identified and related to a Senecan source; followed by an analysis of the original teaching, a comparison with the contemporary Spanish translation, its Spanish gloss, and finally the form in which the idea emerges in the Celestina, through the speech of its protagonists. For example, during Celestina's act one debate with Parmeno she utilizes much Senecan wisdom but often takes points out of context for the sake of her own argument. Celestina and Parmeno both quote and misquote Spanish Senecan sources in an effort to demonstrate their erudition Reviews 143 and score points in the struggle. Fothergill-Payne shows how the Celestina's authors enriched the novel with subtextual references to the original Senecan sources, which would have been understood by many of Rojas's contemporaries. Evidence for this argument is established in thefirstchapter, which contains an excellent short history of Seneca's popularity in Spain and the wide avadability of translations and glosses of many of his works. By placing the novel's important events into their Senecan context, we are led to a re-evaluation of these key aspects. For example, Melibea's suicide in the Senecan context may be seen to be motivated by self-interest and self-pity, discounting the view that it is an act of personal heroism that demonstrates Melibea's strong will and freedom of choice. Similarly, Pleberios' lament is seen in the Senecan light as a foolish pedantic display, a negative example of how the wise man should express grief. Chapter five recognizes the importance of Petrarch as a transmitter of Senecan wisdom and suggests the increasing use made by Rojas of the Index to Petrarch's work which provided the author with a handy check-list of quotations. Fothergill-Payne explains the shift from Senecan to Petrarchan references in the 21-act tragicomedy, especially in the interpolations as an effort to clarify or make explicit points which were dependent on a knowledge of the Senecan subtext. Fothergill-Payne makes assumptions about the authorship of the Celestina that wdl not be shared by aU readers. She also accepts a very literal reading of the Prologue...