Brief Forms in Medieval and Renaissance Hispanic Literature

Book excerpt: The studies gathered in this volume engage in different ways with the ideas of André Jolles (1874–1946), whose Einfache Formen (“Simple Forms”) was first published in 1930. Trained as an anthropologist, Jolles argued that these “simple” forms – Legende (legend), Sage (saga), Mythe (myth), Rätsel (riddle), Spruch (proverb), Kasus (case), Memorabile (memorable action), Märchen (folk or fairy tale) and Witz (joke or witticism) – which had circulated at a very early stage of human culture underlay the more sophisticated genres of literature. Unlike epic or tragedy, many of the simple forms are not theorised in classical rhetoric. The essays presented here focus on their reception in Hispanic culture from the Middle Ages to circa 1650. As such, the book will be of interest to scholars of medieval and early modern Spanish, Catalan and Latin literature. It will also appeal to historians of Humanism as well as scholars working on classical and Renaissance literary theory.