Date of Defense
4-1991
Department
Spanish
First Advisor
Dr. Robert Felkel
Second Advisor
Dr. Carolyn Harris
Third Advisor
Dr. Joseph Reish
Abstract
Pio Baroja defined "the modern novel as a sack which contains everything: letters, sermons, confessions, history, memories, tales of trips, dramatic dialogues, poems, anecdotes, legends; almost everything that circulates through the press or oral tradition" (Alfaro 25). This definition applies to the Quixote, in which Cervantes combines several literary genres in order to conceive the first modern novel in 1605. The Quixote is considered Cervantes' master piece by many people. Cervantes, the most important author of the seventeenth century and perhaps of all Spanish literature, was able to create the first modern novel by introducing and combining elements never seen together before. The fusion of autobiographic, chivalresque, picaresque, pastoral and other literary genres shows Cervantes' ability to move away from the limitation of a more or less codified traditional genre. This paper will examine how Cervantes included diverse literary genres in his novel without disrupting but rather supporting the story .
Recommended Citation
Péri, Anne, "The Fusion of Various Genres by Cervantes in the Quixote" (1991). Honors Theses. 2151.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/2151
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Campus Only