This book examines imagery of the eponymous character from La Celestina from the early sixteenth century until today.
La Celestina, a Spanish literary masterpiece second only in importance to Don Quixote in Spanish literature, has been shaped by the inclusion of images from its very first edition in 1499. The subsequent five centuries were punctuated by many illustrated editions; imaginary portraits of the eponymous procuress Celestina by painters such as Murillo, Goya, and Picasso; and, more recently, screen and stage adaptations. Celestina became the prototype from which later representations of procuresses and bawds derived.
The Image of Celestina sheds light on the visual culture that developed around La Celestina, including paintings, illustrations, and advertisements. Enrique Fernndez examines La Celestina as a mixed-media text, incorporating methods from disciplines such as art history and women's and cinema studies, and considers a variety of images including promotional posters, lobby pictures, and playbills of theatrical and cinematic adaptations of the book. Using a visual studies approach, The Image of Celestina ultimately illuminates the culture of Celestina, a mythical figure, who surpasses the literary text in which she originated.
By:
Enrique Fernandez
Imprint: University of Toronto Press
Country of Publication: Canada
Dimensions:
Height: 235mm,
Width: 159mm,
Spine: 19mm
Weight: 560g
ISBN: 9781487549787
ISBN 10: 1487549784
Series: Toronto Iberic
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 13 January 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Summary of La Celestina (c. 1499) Introduction: The Visual Culture of Celestina Five hundred years of images of Celestina The methodological frame of visual studies Organization of the book 1. Illustrating Celestina The first period of illustrated editions of LC (1499 to 1616) Fadrique de Basilea's Comedia de Calisto y Melibea (Burgos, 1499?) The iconographic program of the early illustrations LC title pages The second period of illustrated editions of LC (1842–present) Conclusions: Two periods, two readings 2. Painting Celestina Images of procuresses before LC Dutch painting: Celestina and the Prodigal Son From Goya to Picasso and beyond Conclusion: Reimagining Celestina 3. Advertising Celestina Promotional images of Celestina: Book covers, playbills, and posters LC covers Posters, playbills, and lobby cards Conclusion: Celestina through the prism of advertising Conclusion: Kaleidoscopic Celestina Illustrations Notes Bibliography Secondary sources cited Old edition of LC cited Modern edition of LC cited Images cited Index
Enrique Fernndez is a professor of Spanish at the University of Manitoba.
Reviews for The Image of Celestina: Illustrations, Paintings, and Advertisements
"""In The Image of Celestina, Enrique Fernández explores 500 years of illustrations, paintings, and advertising of Rojas's paradigm-shifting work, offering his readers brilliant insights that convincingly demonstrate how this wealth of images 'flourished in different periods, used different media, and were intended for different audiences.' Celestina's protean nature and the fascination she has exerted not only on literary continuations and adaptations but also on such painters as Murillo, Goya, and Picasso, as well as on recent theatre, reveals Celestina's eternal allure. This book will be as valuable to literary scholars as to those who are engaged in visual studies.""--Marina S. Brownlee, Robert Schirmer Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Comparative Literature, Princeton University ""This volume by Enrique Fernández is destined to become an unequalled guide to the myriad images of Celestina, starting with an early edition of the work with its seventeen woodcuts as illustrations and covering the more than five centuries since then as the work was translated and independently illustrated, with images used in many ways outside the fictional world of the original work. The quality of the written text is matched by the quality of the images reproduced. The Image of Celestina will long be a treasure in any public or personal library.""--Joseph T. Snow, Professor Emeritus of Spanish Literature, Michigan State University"
