Baroque Horrors: Roots of the Fantastic in the Age of Curiosities

Preface

Baroque Horrors Roots of the Fantastic in the Age of Curiosities David R. Castillo The University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor &* Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2010 All rights reserved Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2013 2012 2011 2010 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Castillo, David R., 1967– Baroque horrors : roots of the fantastic in the age of curiosities / David R. Castillo. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-472-11721-5 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Spanish literature—Classical period, 1500-1700—History and criticism. 2. Baroque literature—History and criticism. 3. Horror in literature. 4. Fear—History. 5. Fear—Political aspects. I. Title. PQ6066.C365 2010 860.9'64—dc22 2009038396 ISBN13 978-0-472-11721-5 (cloth) ISBN13 978-0-472-02668-5 (electronic) A mi querido hijo Alex &* Acknowledgments This book is the result of nearly seven years of work during which I have had the privilege to discuss my ideas in progress with many colleagues and students at the University of Oregon and at SUNY Buffalo. They are all in a very real sense coauthors of this text. Among the Oregon friends I need to mention Massimo Lollini, with whom I had the pleasure to coedit Reason and Its Others (2006), my Golden Age partners in crime Julian Weiss, Leah Middlebrook , Amanda Powell, and Luis Verano, as well as the EMODS gang, including RL colleagues Nathalie Hester and Fabienne Moore. I will never forget our zesty sessions of conversation and wine. I am also appreciative to Juan Epple and Leonardo García Pabón for our stimulating team-taught courses. While this is only our fourth year in Buffalo, my wife and I are fortunate to ‹nd ourselves, once again, amidst wonderful friends, many of whom are UB colleagues. Among them, I would like to thank the members of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures and the interdisciplinary Early Modern Reading Group, including Amy Graves, Galen Brokaw, and Jim Bono. Jim’s illuminating comments on an early draft of the introduction helped shape the direction of my research. I need to thank the Baldy Center for its engaging series of speaker events, including the 2008 presentation by Michigan Acquisitions Editor Melody Herr which led to this publication, the College of Arts and Sciences, and especially the UB Humanities Institute for buying me precious writing time during the most critical phase of my research. Speaking of writing time, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to all my collaborators over the years, including my mentor, Nicholas Spadaccini; my good friend, Bill Egginton; my dear brother, Moisés Castillo; and my current writing partners, Brad Nelson and especially Kari Winter. Kari’s dedication to our co-edited volume What’s New About Slavery: Human Traf‹cking and the Commodi‹cation of Life and her patient and insightful reading of every draft of my Baroque Horrors have rede‹ned, in my eyes, the very notion of intellectual ...