Don Yllan and the Egyptian Sorceror: Vernacular commonality and literary diversity in medieval Castile
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Date
2005
Authors
Wacks, David A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Abstract
In this article the author compares the exemplo of Don Yllan and the Dean de Santiago, #11 in Don Juan Manuel's Conde Lucanor (ca. 1335) with an earlier Hebrew analogue found in the Hebrew Meshal Haqadmoni (ca. 1285) of fellow Castilian author Isaac ibn Sahula. A thorough analysis of the rhetorical and narrative style of both versions reveals that the two tales shared a common source in Castilian oral tradition. The appearance of the tale in an earlier Hebrew text from Castile (the only other known version in any language) calls into question the originality of Don Juan Manuel's most famous exemplo, suggesting a productive interplay between a common oral tradition in Castilian and coexisting literary traditions in Hebrew and Castilian.
Description
13 p.
Keywords
Conde Lucanor, Meshal ha-kadmoni, Sahula, Isaac ben Solomon, 13th cent. Meshal ha-kadmoni, Juan Manuel, Infante of Castile, 1282-1347. Conde Lucanor, Don Yllan, Dean de Santiago
Citation
Wacks, David A. "Don Yllan and the Egyptian Sorceror: Vernacular commonality and literary diversity in medieval Castile." Sefarad 65.2 (2005): 413-33