Epic Epistles: Scripting the Early Modern Self in Chivalric Romance, the Picaresque and the Conquest Relation by Barnaby William Clunie A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto © Copyright by Barnaby William Clunie 2007 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your We Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55700-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55700-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantias de celle-ci substantial extracts from'it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Epic Epistles: Scripting the Early Modern Self in Chivalric Romance, the Picaresque and the Conquest Relation Barnaby William Clunie Doctor of Philosophy Centre for Comparative Literature University of Toronto 2007 ABSTRACT This literary study of self looks at how representative texts of different genres enable the expression of different types of self, defined as discourse in which tensions between normative structures (political, social, and literary) are managed by a subject (either a character or author, or both) with a certain degree of creative agency. The degree to which creative agency is exploited depends, in part, on the genre selected by or imposed upon the author. In epic, for example, creative agency is largely in the service of the prevailing order, and there is a suspicion of the power of textuality to displace or replace this order. This power is tentatively realized in twelfth and thirteenth century chivalric romance. As an amalgam of epic and romance, Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula (c. 1508) reveals a more complex relationship to the individual self. The knight is encouraged to wander into the woods, and the violent and romantic encounters that occur there become a rite of passage into adulthood and social acceptance. Self becomes a creative process by which the individual manages his private motivations and his public duties into a workable balance. In the Cartas de relation of Hernan Cortes (1519-1525), Cortes is both narrator and hero. America, a wilderness of actual Others, is not a place of withdrawal and growth, but a place of ii opportunity. Cortes manages to inscribe himself as and ideal servant and royal stand-in by creatively exploiting all the discourse at his disposal: a rhetoric of empire, kingship, and vassalage; a practice of interrogation and punishment; a process of textual mapping; and a practice of psychological policing and government. Cortes addresses an audience that is as multiple as the means he exploits to construct himself. In Lazarillo de Tormes by Anonymous (1554), the anonymous author writes against the class of which he is a part. With deft irony, he turns the privileged reader's disgust for Lazaro and the subsistence thievery upon which he and his fellow paupers depend into disgust for a system that creates such desperation. 111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have in some way contributed to this dissertation and the academic path of which it is just the first culmination. Obviously, there are the members of my exam and dissertation committees, both of which were overseen by Prof. Roland Le Huenen with proficiency: Prof. Jill Ross for her always careful readings, pointed and practical critiques, and incredible eye for detail; Prof. Paul Stevens for his unwavering encouragement and support; and Prof. Stephen Rupp for his always timely suggestions, both academic and procedural. Although he was never able to participate formally in either exam or defence, I must also include Prof. Josiah Blackmore for being so generous with his time, suggestions, and encouragement. Thanks must also be extended to Prof. Ricardo Sternberg and Prof. Sanda Munjic for stepping in and helping to make the defence meeting a stimulating and successful one; and, of course, to Prof. E. Michael Gerli for his probing and perceptive questions and comments during the defence. So many other professors, through their courses or simply through casual and amicable contact, have had an indirect hand in this project, that I fear even beginning to mention them. Prof. Sam Solecki, Prof. Brian Stock, Prof. Linda Hutcheon, Prof. Mary Nyquist, Dr. Jonathan Rollins, and Prof. Andreas Motsch stand out in particular. I would also thank those whose instruction I may not have valued sufficiently at the time, but whose lessons slowly made their value apparent: Prof. Reza Baraheni and Prof. Owen J. Miller. The multitude of forms and endless institutional labyrinths would have been unnavigable but for the presence and professionalism of the Comparative Literature support staff: Aphrodite Gardner and Bao Nguyen I would also acknowledge the community of my peers for creating an atmosphere in which ideas could be aired, but also (when necessary) escaped from: Vivian Ralickas, Pablo Pemeja, Leon Berdichevsky, and Sandra Bialystock; Pamela Coles for a dash of drama and endless ability to generate tangential discussion; Emilie McCabe for general good neighbourliness and invaluable suggestions and private library loans; Gur Zak for being so generous with his time and expertise during the final stages. None of this would have been possible or remotely meaningful without the support and patience of my wife, Andrea, my parents and parents-in-law, and my children, who often suffered when this unplayful, overly-demanding and emotionally unstable sibling took their father away for hours at a time. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 The Discourse of Self and the "Discovery of the Individual" 1 Epic: Imagined Community, Textual Self 12 Textualized Self 13 (Dis)honest Words and Community 15 Cowardice As Silence: the Wood 16 Textual Dishonesty 17 Chapter 1 Stepping Outside: Managing Exilic Violence in Chivalric Romance (Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo's Amadis de Gaula) 25 Approaching the Question 28 A Brief Textual History 30 The Question of Readership 31 Chivalry in Context 33 Plotting against Amadis 36 Dialogic Utopia and the State Self ^_^ __ 44 The Wandering Ideal 48 Exile of Identity 52 Amadis de Gaula: "un claro y luziante espejo" 52 Textual Control and Self-Incorporation 53 Romantic Deferral: A Willing Captive 59 The Discourse of Submission: ortogarundon „...61 Romantic Consummation: The Dangers of Matrimony 62 La Insola Firme 63 Penance: The Self As Hermit and the Fantasy of Discipline _68 Chapter 2 The Conquest of Self: Court, Countryside, Capital Punishment (Hernan Cortes' Cartas de Relation) 78 Text and Historical Background 82 Foundation and Empire 84 Justice, Governance, and Qualpopoca 103 Cartagraphy '^^_ 113 Law and Order and the Frontier: Cuauhtemoc, Nature, and the Critical Consciousness 117 Text and the Technology of Self 126 Chapter 3 Narrative Community of Self in Lazarillo de Tormes 133 v Anonymity \£V Us 135 Lazaro: Individual, Exemplum, Dispropriated Voice 139 Suffering as/for the Other 147 Inscribed Community 162 Conclusion 176 Appendix A: Published editions of chivalric romance 1500-1650 183 Appendix B: Woodcut of Carlos V 184 Notes .185 Works Cited 212 VI l Introduction The Discourse of Self and the "Discovery of the Individual" In Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (1989), Charles Taylor notes that Heidegger, in Being and Time, "described the inescapable temporal structure of being in the world: that from a sense of what we have become, among a range of possibilities, we project our future being." For Taylor (and, it is suggested, for all of us) "life always has this degree of narrative understanding, that I understand my present action in the form of an 'and then': there was A (what I am), and then I do B (what I project to become)" (47). This narrative sense of being (of becoming through narrative, through a placing of "events" in a meaningful sequence) extends to the text that is Sources of the Self. Taylor even refers to his project as "the story I want to tell." Speaking of the localization of our sense of self (e.g. within a duality such as soul/body) and our sense of moral sources (a conception of the Good is central to Taylor's thinking), Taylor makes the case for change: It is not that these do not change in history. On the contrary, the story I want to tell is of such a change.