Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Laura Gorfkle

Source: Hispanic Review, Vol. 64, No. 2 (Spring, 1996), pp. 276-278
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/474658 .
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276 Reviews HR 64 (1996)

Izquierdo "divenne definitiva almeno nel senso che essa segno il destino
dell'idea di trascendenza" a partir de Kant. Este entusiasmo, aunque
comprensible hasta cierto punto, no me parece del todo justificable. Es
dificil escapar a la impresi6n de que la innegable coherencia y elegancia
que caracterizan a la doctrina de Izquierdo se deben a su capacidad para
resolver lo que es esencialmente un problema metafisico en un problema
16gico. No cabe duda de que esto le aproxima a toda una corriente del
pensamiento filos6fico moderno. Pero, por eso mismo, le aleja de la otra
gran corriente: la que esta empefiada en mostrar los fundamentos me-
tafisicos de la 16gica.
Es posible, pues, extraer del libro de Di Vona conclusiones directamente
opuestas. Entiendase bien que hago esta observaci6n con Animo de que
sea tomada en sentido positivo. La lectura de este libro me parece que
resultara fitil a quienes aporten una preparaci6n y un interns por la filosofia
mas que normales. Los problemas que abord6 la ontologia del siglo xvII
siguen candentes en nuestra epoca.
FRANCISCO MARTiNEZ YANES
Rowan College of New Jersey

Beneath the Cloak of Cervantes: The Satanic Prose of Don Quixote de

la Mancha. By George Camamis. New York: Senda Nueva de Ediciones,
1991. 538 pages.

Departing from the colloquial expression "under my cloak I kill the

king," which appears in the Prologue of Part I, Camamis postulates a hidden
meaning in the text. The novel is a satire of the Renaissance and Coun-
ter-Reformation papacy of the sixteenth century. Camamis begins his
interpretation with the numerical division of the text. Upon adding the
52 chapters of Part I to Cervantes' birthdate (1547+52), he discovers
that each chapter of the book represents one year in the life of the
author up to the year 1599. On a secondary level, each of the first fourteen
chapters is symbolic of what biblical exegetes call a "week of years,"
a unit of seven years corresponding to the seven days of the week of
creation. On this plane, the first eight chapters embrace the reign of
Charles V. The following six chapters correspond to the reign of Philip
II. Each chapter also represents a century of the Christian era and the
progression of papal history from Medieval times through the sixteenth
century. Finally, the first five chapters of the Quixote follow the books
of the Old Testament.
In the first eight chapters of his study, Camamis analyzes in detail
the first nine chapters of Don Quixote, offering commentary of figures
 Reviews 277

and events from the perspective of various historical levels, illustrating

their allegorical and satirical function. Camamis reaches some startling
conclusions. For example, the hidalgo's preparation of his arms sym-
bolically reflects the first century of the Christian Era, the century that
witnessed the institution of Christianity with Christ and the Apostles
forging the weapons of a new faith. Don Quixote's enclosure and vigil
of arms depicts the long conclave following the death of Paul III that
ended with the election of Cardinal Giovan Maria del Monte as Julius
III in 1550. Finally, the knight's baptism and the innkeeper's boon are
a symbolic portrayal of the Donation of Constantine, a reward to Pope
Sylvester for the gift of baptism and for his recovery from leprosy.
In the last two thirds of his study, Camamis analyzes the remaining
chapters of Part I. Camamis first analyzes the transcendent meaning
of key themes in the remaining chapters of Part I: the symbolism of
Don Quixote's order of knight errantry, Don Quixote as symbol of a
dying pope and Dulcinea as the symbol of the bride of the Holy Father.
In the final chapters of his study, Camamis ponders the influence of the
Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno on Cervantes' work. It is in relation
to the allegorical exegesis of Bruno's influence in the episodes narrating
Cardenio's story that the motives for Cervantes' papal satire are re-
vealed. Cervantes was the secret disciple of the heretic Giordano Bruno.
Morally traumatized by his martyrdom, Cervantes wrote his work out
of personal vengeance.
It seems paradoxical to lament the lack of textual evidence in the
interpretation of a cryptic text, since the author of such a text covers up
his or her true intent. However, this reader wonders how Camamis holds
himself responsible for his own critical judgments. Indeed, if the intent
and the execution of Cervantes' allegorical satire is hidden, how is it that
it has been divulged to Camamis? The self-defined iconoclast answers this
question with arrogance and eccentricity in the prologue of his study. In
imitation of the Prologue of Don Quixote, Part I, Camamis poses as a
maligned artist, concerned with the legitimacy of his work. Pen in hand,
he converses with a "friend" over his tenure denial and consequent exclu-
sion from the academic ranks. His friend assures him that his worries are
unfounded. He is a seer and a prophet. He does not need the stamp of
approval from the academic community of cervantistas. Unlike his pres-
tigious predecessors, he alone has enough talent to decipher the text and
therefore complete it.
To my mind, an exegetical reading of the text must be driven not by
divine illumination but by compelling evidence of Cervantes' purposeful
juxtaposition of the fictional and the allegorical. Such evidence would be
the only possible cause for scholarly legitimacy. While Camamis does
demonstrate the similarity between ritual practices in religious history
and the chivalric ceremonies satirized in the Quixote, he is ultimately not
278 Reviews HR 64 (1996)

convincing in his attempt to extrapolate from that similarity an embedded

satanic intent on the part of Cervantes.
LAURA GORFKLE
Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University

Francisco de Quevedo, Cinco Silvas. Ed. Carmen Rocha de Sigler. Sa-

lamanca: Universidad, 1994. 266 paginas.
El presente estudio de conjunto de las Silvas como serie po6tica y en
particular, de las de Quevedo, incluye la indispensable edici6n critica de
A la soberbia, Al sueno, Al que cavaba una mina, Roma antigua y moderna,
y A una nave.
Rocha de Sigler presenta, en una primera parte, la evoluci6n semantica
del vocablo silva, poniendo orden en lo que hist6ricamente ha sido una
"nomenclatura ca6tica" (que abarcaba composiciones como el idilio o el
madrigal). Partiendo de la antigiiedad clasica, se revisan las composiciones
estacianas-que incluyen diversos g6neros ret6ricos y variedad tematica
y m6trica-y sus influjos, principalmente en Poliziano, quien configura la
evoluci6n posterior de la silva. A la designaci6n renacentista de una co-
lecci6n de poemas encomiasticos, de caracter espontineo, carente adn de
significaci6n formal, se afiade posteriormente otra paralela que denota
una forma m6trica, la combinaci6n de versos de distinta medida. El estudio
se completa con una investigaci6n centrada en el Ambito hispano; si a lo
largo de los siglos xv y xvi, la silva designa cancioneros, diccionarios de
rima o compilaci6n de curiosidades, en los albores del xvII la silva se reviste
de una significaci6n m6trica, en tanto que composici6n donde se combinan
versos endecasilabos y heptasilabos. La investigadora, basindose en el
manuscrito de Napoles, considerado en parte aut6grafo, muestra que para
el propio Quevedo el t6rmino no denota un tipo de composici6n inico-la
mencionada silva m6trica, que el poeta cultiva desde un primer momento,
y la iinica aceptada por Gonzalez de Salas, primer editor de la poesia
quevediana-sino que incluye diversas definiciones y engloba todo un g6nero
poRtico de temitica variada. Asi, se revisan exhaustivamente la diversidad
de clasificaciones, tanto m6trica como temitica, delimitando el corpus, cuyo
inventario se reduce a 34 silvas, de las 36 consideradas por Asensio en Un
Quevedo inc6gnito: las "Silvas" (1983).
Rocha de Sigler formula una caracterizaci6n de las silvas como poesia
encomiastica, fruto de tres tradiciones convergentes: la ret6rica epidictica, el
epigrama griego y la ekphrasis estaciana. El encomio de personas, personi-
ficaciones, lugares u objetos enlazaria estas composiciones con la ret6rica