From: Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America, 29.2 (Fall, 2009): 159-72.

Copyright © 2009, The Cervantes Society of America.

http://www.h-net.org/~cervantes/csa/articf09/FarmerF09.pdf

Disenchanted Castles:
Cervantes’ Representation of the
Ariostan Epic-Romance Split
__________________________________________ Julia Farmer

S
cholars have long acknowledged the great influence that
Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso had on Cervantes’ Don Quixote.1 Despite
this awareness of the Furioso’s importance for Cervantes, however,
remarkably few studies have explored in any systematic way the relation-
ship between the two texts. That is, while critics have long recognized
the importance of the Furioso for Cervantes’s novel in general terms, the
truly methodical nature of Cervantes’s references to the Orlando Furioso
throughout the 1605 Quixote has remained largely unnoticed. Indeed, an
analysis of the ways in which Cervantes rewrites certain key episodes of
the Furioso is in fact vital to our understanding of his perception of per-
haps the greatest literary quarrel of his time: the dispute over the Furioso’s
status as epic. The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split

The Polemic in Italy and its Resonance in Spain

When Ariosto’s continuation of Matteo Boiardo’s chivalric poem Orlando
Innamorato was first published in 1516, literary scholars perceived it as more
than another romance: for them, it was essentially an heroic epic poem—
an Aeneid for its time—due in large part to its encomiastic account of
the genealogy of Ariosto’s patron, Ippolito d’Este (Chevalier 9). Around
the middle of the century, however, the Furioso’s status as epic began to
come ever more into question. According to Weinberg, the earliest ex-
tant evidence of a polemic surrounding Ariosto’s poem is Simone Ferrari’s
Apologia breve sopra tutto l’Orlando Furioso, where the author defended the

1 The most complete study in recent years on Cervantes and Ariosto is that of Thom-
as Hart. See also Quint (1997), Brownlee, C. Donato, Durán, Güntert, Pérez, and Selig.

159
160 Julia Farmer Cervantes

Furioso against attacks by now-unknown critics who viewed it as violating

neo-Aristotelian ideals of unity and verisimilitude (954). This polemic sur-
rounding the Furioso went on for a number of years, but only in the last
two decades of the sixteenth century, with the publication of Torquato
Tasso’s epic Gerusalemme Liberata (1581) and his corresponding neo-Aristo-
telian theoretical arguments, did the battle over Ariosto’s text become truly
heated (as now critics of the Furioso had a concrete example of what they
deemed a genuine modern epic with which to contrast the Furioso and all
its supposed faults).2
With his various treatises Tasso attempted to redefine the Ariostan
epic in terms of structure and content, preferring unity of action over the
varied wanderings of romance and seriousness of tone over the often jocu-
lar nature of the Furioso. Tasso writes in one of the most famous passages
in the Discorsi dell’arte poetica, for example:

[…] [G]iudico che da eccelente poeta […] un poema formar si pos-

sa nel quale, quasi in un piccolo mondo, qui si leggano ordinanze
d’esserciti, qui battaglie terrestri e navali, qui espugnazioni di città,
[…]; la si trovino concilii celesti e infernali, là si veggiano sedizioni, là
discordie, là errori, là venture […]; ma che nondimeno uno sia il po-
ema che tanta varietà di materia contegna, una la forma e la favola sua,
e che tutte queste cose siano di maniera composte che l’una e l’altra
riguardi, l’una all’altra corrisponda, l’una dall’altra o necesariamente o
verisímilmente dependa, sì che una sola parte o tolta via o mutata di
sito, il tutto ruini (847).

[…]I think an excellent poet […] can shape a poem in which, as in

a little world, we read of mustering armies, land and sea battles, con-
quests of cities, […] and we find heavenly and hellish assemblies and
see sedition, discord, wanderings, adventures […]. And still, the poem
which contains such a variety of matter is one; its form and its plot
are one; and all these things are brought together in such a way that
one thing shows consideration for another, one thing corresponds to
another, and through either necessity or verisimilitude one thing de-
pends on another in such a way that by removing a single part or by
changing its place, we destroy the whole (131). 3

2 For the most complete account of the polemic, see Weinberg.

3 All English translations of Tasso taken from Rhu.
Volume 29.2 (2009) The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split 161

Thus, while Tasso does not completely condemn the varietà inher-
ent in romance— indeed, elsewhere in his discussion he links it to the
abundance of God’s creation— he does advocate a more teleological and
verisimilar approach to this variety, in which each portion of the epic leads
toward some greater meaning. Chevalier cites numerous critics who, now
armed with what they considered a true epic with which to back up their
claims, criticized Ariosto’s lack of unity even more harshly than before
(288). Though Tasso’s supporters clearly began to outnumber Ariosto’s as
the turn of the century approached, the Furioso’s author did not find him-
self completely without supporters in the debate: Francesco Patrizi, for
example, attacked neo-Aristotelian poetics on a variety of fronts, including
the fact that in his mind it was useless to base a theory of literature on a
text as incomplete and unclear as the Poetics (203).
Given the importance of this polemic in Italian literary circles, it is
not surprising that similar discussions began to take abroad in Spain, as
well.4 There, one of the most vociferous proponents of Tasso’s theories was
Cristóbal de Mesa, whose poemas heróicos were praised by Lope de Vega,
Luis Barahona de Soto, Francisco de Quevedo, and, most important for
this study, Cervantes himself (Caravaggi 63). Mesa was an acquaintance
of Tasso’s during the former’s stay in Rome, from 1588 to 1592; and in the
prologue to his heroic poem Las Navas de Tolosa (1594), he references key
issues in the Ariosto-Tasso polemic, declaring:

…[N]o es mi intención hacer comparación aquí de los escritores de

nuestro tiempo, dando nombre de eróico a solo el Torcuato, ni entrar
en la controversia de las academias Florentina y Napolitana en si al
Ariosto, por no conocérsele sujeto señalado, o de Orlando, o del cerco
de Paris, o guerras de Agramante, y haber hecho medio poema pro-
siguiendo en Enamorado, y comenzar por el episodio de la huida de
Angélica, se le haya de atribuir antes nombre de romanzador que de
épico (“A los Letores”).

That Cervantes read and praised Mesa’s text attests to his familiar-
ity with the key issues in the debate at issue here. Moreover, as Daniel
Eisenberg notes, the two writers came into contact at numerous points

4 In Cervantes’s Theory of the Novel, Riley points out the impossibility of knowing
with any certainty what theoretical sources Cervantes may have consulted. He declares El
Pinciano and Tasso as the most likely candidates, however (10).
162 Julia Farmer Cervantes

throughout their lives, giving Cervantes ample opportunity to have dis-

cussed Tasso’s ideas with Mesa.5 Even had Cervantes not read Mesa’s work
or discussed Tasso’s ideas with him in person, however, he would have had
other opportunities to come into contact with Tasso’s theories: the Geru-
salemme was very popular in Spain throughout the century following its
publication (Arce 11), and the fact that Tasso’s apologia opening the poem
includes his own discussion of the relative merits (or lack thereof ) of the
Furioso made key ideas in the debate available to any Spaniard who read
Italy’s newest epic.
As Gerusalemme came to displace the Furioso as the model modern
epic, the tenor of those Spanish works inspired by Ariosto’s poem began to
evolve as well, treating the Italian tale more as chivalric novel, or romance,
than as serious epic poetry (Chevalier 352). Cervantes’s Don Quixote—and
in particular the 1605 portion—may be seen as the epitome of this new
way of representing Ariosto’s text. It must be remembered, after all, that
Cervantes composed his novel during the years of greatest intensity in the
debate over the status of the Italian poem. Because the Quixote’s publica-
tion at the beginning of the seventeenth century comes at such a critical
juncture for Ariosto’s reception both at home and in Spain, it is impor-
tant to consider more closely the ways in which Cervantes dialogues with
the Italian text’s ambiguity. As mentioned, I would argue specifically that
the much-discussed intercalated structure closing the 1605 volume of the
Quixote may be better understood when interpreted not just as a medi-
tation on chivalric literature in general, but specifically as a reflection of
Tasso’s displacement of Ariosto as epic.

D isenchanted C astles
In order to appreciate the complex reflection of the Furioso polemic mir-
rored in the closing chapters of the 1605 Quixote, we must first clarify the
nature of what I would argue is its Ariostan narratological and thematic
counterpart: Atlante’s castle. In canto 12 of the Furioso, the wizard Atlante

5 As evidence of their acquaintance, Eisenberg states that “Both frequented literary

circles in the capital; both received assistance from the Conde de Lemos, and wanted to
accompany him to Naples; both dedicated books to the Duque de Béjar, although it is not
documented that Cervantes received the help from Béjar that Mesa did. Cervantes praised
Mesa in both the Parnaso and in the ‘Canto de Calíope’; Mesa thanked and praised Cer-
vantes in his Restauración de España. The two obviously knew each other, and Tasso would
have been a logical topic to discuss” (310).
Volume 29.2 (2009) The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split 163

attempts to protect his protégé Ruggiero by trapping him in an enchanted

castle in order to keep him from his predicted death. Ruggiero, a pagan
knight destined to convert to Christianity and found the Este lineage, thus
incarnates the convergence of the Furioso’s epic and romance worlds. At-
lante traps other knights in his castle as well, so that they will never have
the opportunity to kill Ruggiero. The wizard adopts the form of the per-
son or object most desired by each knight in order to attract him into the
castle. Once there, the knights spend their days pursuing in vain the false
images of the objects of their desire, their paths continuously crossing:

Di su di giù va il conte Orlando e riede;

né per questo può far gli occhi mai lieti
che riveggiano Angelica, o quel ladro
che n’ha portato il bel viso leggiadro.

E mentre or quinci or quindi invano il passo

movea, pien de travaglio e di pensieri,
Ferraù, Brandimarte e il re Gradasso,
re Sacripante ed altri cavalieri
vi ritrovò, ch’andavano alto e basso,
né men facena di lui vani sentieri;
e si ramaricavan del malvagio
invisibil signor de quel palagio” (12.10-11).

[Upstairs and downstairs and all over again Orlando hunted, but there
was no joy for him: never did he set eyes upon Angelica or the thief
who had wafted her sweet delicate face from his sight. And while
vainly pursuing his quest hither and thither, full of care and anxiety, he
came across Ferrau, Brandimart, King Gradasso, and King Sacripant
and other knights who were also searching high and low, pursuing a
quest as fruitless as his own. They all complained about the malicious
invisible lord of that palace]6

In this sense, the castle may be seen as a sort of microcosm of Ariosto’s

chivalric world, which, as Eugenio Donato observes, is based in large part
on the representation of desire.7 The entire first part of the poem, that is,

6 All English translations of the Furioso are from Waldman.

7 Donato writes, “Practically every incident in the vast construct of the Furioso con-
164 Julia Farmer Cervantes

revolves around the constant movement of knights in search of the objects

of their desire, objects concentrated in Atlante’s enchanted castle.
One of the Christian paladins, Astolfo, eventually manages to destroy
the enchanted castle, allowing the trapped knights to continue their wan-
derings. The significance of the castle’s destruction is evident if we consider
that in the first 40-canto version of the poem this key episode took place
in canto 20—that is, at the Furioso’s precise midpoint. David Quint has
noted a change in tone evident after this point in the text: Ariosto appears
increasingly to distance himself from the interlaced structure of chivalric
romance, and to emphasize to a greater extent the more epic nature of his
poem (Atlante 87).
Significantly, the destruction of Atlante’s castle marks not only a sort of
narratological transition, but a clear change in worldview on the part of the
wizard as well. Intrinsically linked to the increasingly epic nature of the tale—
with its inevitable outcome, Ruggiero’s death—is Atlante’s growing feeling
of powerlessness and disenchantment, as the wizard eventually dies from the
pain of knowing that he is incapable of saving his protégé from his predicted
fate. In canto 36, Atlante speaks to Ruggiero from the tomb, saying:

Ruggier, se ti guardò, mentre che visse,

il tuo maestro Atlante, tu lo sai.
Di te senti’ predir le stele fisse,
che tra’ cristiani a tradigion morrai;
e perché il male influsso non seguisse,
tenertene lontan m’affaticai:
né ostare al fin potendo alla tua voglia,
infermo caddi, e me mori’ di doglia (36.64).

[Ruggiero, you know how your mentor Atlas protected you while he
lived. I had heard the fixed stars’ prediction that you were to die, be-
trayed, in the Christian camp, and to avert the evil influence, I tried to
keep you away. But, unable in the end to oppose your will, I fell sick
and died of grief.]

As mago and figure of the chivalric poet, Atlante has disappeared, al-

sists of a tale of characters pursuing, with more or less success, the usually elusive object of
their desire. The nature of the object matters little; it can be a woman, a helmet, a sword, a
horse, or simply glory and renown” (33).
Volume 29.2 (2009) The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split 165

lowing the text to continue toward its epic conclusion, which is thus inex-
tricably intertwined with Atlante’s impotence.
It is precisely this sort of epic “disenchantment” to which Cervantes
pays homage in the concluding episodes of the first volume of the Quixote,
which rewrite the three most important phases in the tale of Atlante and
his castle—the trapped knights and the intercalated structure that they
bring to the forefront, the destruction of the castle, and Atlante’s resultant
disillusionment. Significantly, as Edward Dudley has observed, the most
complex series of intercalated tales in the Quixote (which become con-
centrated in the inn) takes place between the two “yelmo de Mambrino”
episodes, Mambrino’s helmet being a coveted object in the Furioso as well
and therefore a textual marker of Ariostan influence. Quixote’s initial tak-
ing of the “helmet” from the barber and the later discussion at the inn of
that item’s true purpose bookend the complex series of intercalated tales.
Dudley, however, does not explore Cervantes’ possible motivation for plac-
ing the interlaced tales against this Ariostan backdrop.
In fact, a close reading of references to Ariosto throughout the series of
episodes that take place between the two yelmo incidents reveals that these
allusions are most frequently juxtaposed with discussions of storytelling,
indicating that Cervantes wished his reader to reflect on issues of specifi-
cally Ariostan narrative structure. For example, immediately before Quix-
ote’s initial seizure of the helmet is Sancho’s attempt to tell the story of
the shepherd Lope Ruiz’s desire to pursue Torralba. When Sancho begins
to recount Lope’s crossing a river with one individual goat after another,
Quixote scolds him for his meandering story-telling: “Haz cuenta que las
pasó todas; no andes yendo y viniendo desa manera, que no acabarás de
pasarlas en un año” (244). The link between this narrative ir y venir, inspired
by Lope’s desire for Torralba and representative of chivalric romance struc-
tures, and the appearance of Mambrino’s helmet in the subsequent chapter
should not be overlooked.
The association between Ariostan references and narrative concerns is
only strengthened by Quixote’s encounter shortly thereafter with Cardenio,
another Ariostan “mad knight” of sorts. Significantly, much as he did with
the yelmo de Mambrino, Cervantes links Cardenio from the outset with
discussions of narrative unity. When Quixote asks Cardenio to explain
why he has come to Sierra Morena, the latter prefaces his statements by
demanding a promise that Quixote and Sancho will not interrupt him and
threatening to cease narration should they do so. At this point, the omni-
166 Julia Farmer Cervantes

scient narrator tells the reader that Cardenio’s demand brings to mind for
Quixote Sancho’s aborted tale of Lope Ruiz. Through these parallel refer-
ences to Ariostan elements and concerns with unity of action, Cervantes
subtly encourages his reader to view the intercalated episodes marked off
by the yelmo in the specific context of questions of narrative.8
Cervantes reinforces the importance of an Ariostan reading of the in-
tercalated inn events through the mysterious presence at the core of the
action of what Hart calls the only major “demonstrable borrowing” (i.e.,
complete episode) from the Furioso in the Quixote-- the interpolated novel
El curioso impertinente (4). From the beginning, critics have struggled with
this tale’s seeming irrelevance to the furtherance of the novel’s main action.
Cervantes himself refers in the second part of his novel (1615) to critics’
commentary on the apparently odd placement of El curioso. There, before
Quixote makes his third and final sally, Sansón Carasco tells the would-be
knight of the published account of his and Sancho’s adventures and states
that “Una de las tachas que ponen a la tal historia es que su autor puso en
ella una novela intitulada El curioso impertinente, no por mala ni por mal
razonada sino por no ser de aquel lugar, ni tiene que ver con la historia de
su merced del señor don Quixote” (457). The Curioso does have at least one
important function, however: to remind the reader to consider the series
of intercalated events between the two yelmo de Mambrino incidents in
conjunction with Ariosto. The Curioso comes, after all, at the exact mid-
point of the 24-chapter arc between the yelmo episodes, making the entire
interpolated structure hinge on references to the Furioso.9
The question becomes, then, that of assessing the significance of the
inn episodes’ convergence in conjunction with Ariosto’s text. Any approach
to this question must begin by exploring the relationship between the inn

8 Using different evidence from that which I present here, Stephen Gilman has ar-
gued as well that Cervantes’s Sierra Morena episodes hinge on references to the Furioso
(156-64). The conclusions that Gilman draws from his observations, however, link Cer-
vantes’s weaving together of narrative threads to the comedia genre, rather than to any pos-
sible reflection on the Furioso .
9 In his recent article “The Genealogy of the Novel from the Odyssey to Don Quix-
ote,” Quint notes another important “centrally located” episode in Cervantes’s novel, and
that is Quixote’s decision in chapter 26 of the 52-chapter 1605 Quixote to reject the mad Or-
lando as a model. Quint observes that although Quixote explicitly distances himself from
the model of Orlando here, Cervantes implicitly pays homage to the Furioso by placing the
episode at the midpoint of his text, just as Orlando’s madness takes place at the midpoint
of the 1532 final edition of the Furioso (23).
Volume 29.2 (2009) The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split 167

and its clearest Ariostan counterpart, Atlante’s castle. As with the latter,
the inn may also be read as a point of narrative transition, the site where
the first volume of the work reaches its culmination.10 In particular, it is
here where the intercalated structure that comes to dominate the first part
of the Quixote is most evident, recalling Atlante’s castle as núcleo romancesco
of the Furioso. Various narrative threads cross in the inn, nearly all of them
based on some form of desire, as many of the characters mentioned both
in the interpolated tales and previously in the Quixote’s principal narrative
converge there: Cardenio and Lucinda, Fernando and Dorotea, the captive
and his brother, and the barber and his helmet.
Discussing the differences between Cervantes’s representation of the
inn here and previously, Emilio González López writes:

Nos ofrece Cervantes, en estos capítulos, que constituyen casi la ter-

cera parte del Quixote de 1605, una visión un tanto distinta de la misma
venta; pues ésta no es sólo un lugar de reunión, al modo de la que
presentó Chaucer en sus Cuentos de Canterbury, de gentes que van jun-
tas en peregrinación a un determinado pueblo, sino que es el punto
de reunión de una serie de gentes que van, empujadas por la vida, en
distintas direcciones (307).

Contrary to the Furioso, in the Quixote the characters who encounter

each other in the inn, under the yelmo de Mambrino narrative arc, at least
initially appear to be reunited with the objects of their desire (although, as
we will see, these reunions are rendered problematic as the text progresses).
In his edition of the Quixote, Murillo relates this emphasis on the lovers’
reunions to two literary trends predominant in Spain at the time: the come-
dia, in which it was customary to pair couples at the closing stages of the
play, and the novela sentimental, with its emphasis on “happy coincidence”
(456 n.)11.
With regard to the series of reunions, Dudley has argued that under
the spell of the yelmo de Mambrino¸ Quixote is able to act as a mago of
sorts, intervening in others’ lives in order to tie together the various narra-
tive threads running through the inn:

10 This inn comes into play twice in the first volume of the novel. My discussion will
focus on the second time that Quixote arrives there, after his stay in the Sierra.
11 As mentioned earlier, Quint as well links Cervantes’s use of interlace here to the
typical comedia structure.
168 Julia Farmer Cervantes

This central block forms the climax of the novel and creates the ef-
fective breathing space for Don Quixote’s triumphant transformation
of art into life. Never again is he so fully Don Quixote as in this focal
core of Part One (chapters xxi to xlv). The final two literary constructs
develop on his return to the village: the Canon of Toledo’s potential
novel of chivalry, discussed at length with Don Quixote, and the cu-
riously unsatisfactory story of Eugenio, Leandra and Vicente de la
Roca. Don Quixote debates with the Canon and fights with Eugenio,
indicative of the unresolved and unresolvable problems they present.
They belong to his deincarnation as a Magus, and they share with him
a generic crisis which is left hanging at the close of Part One (360).

If we accept Dudley’s argument, that is, Quixote’s success as “Magus”

is based on his bringing closure to the tales of desire that play such an im-
portant role during this portion of the novel.
The demystification of the yelmo de Mambrino at the end of chapter
44, where Sancho declares it a baciyelmo (540), however, brings about what
Dudley refers to as the “generic crisis” hanging over the 1605 volume’s final
chapters. As we will see, the compromise between basin and enchanted
helmet marks a clear point of transition with respect to the interpolated
tales, as Don Quixote subsequently appears to lose the control that he had
exercised previously.
Indeed, as the debate about the helmet continues in the subsequent
chapter, there emerges a growing sense of chaos at the inn—a narrative
development once again explicitly linked to Ariosto’s text. When the
“baciyelmo” discussion becomes more heated, with an officer of the Holy
Brotherhood declaring the helmet a basin and Quixote responding, “Men-
tís como un bellaco villano” (543), a brawl breaks out. Cervantes describes
the resulting confusion as follows:

[…] [T]oda la venta era llantos, voces, gritos, confusiones, temores,

sobresaltos, desgracias, cuchilladas, mojicones, palos, coces y efusión
de sangre, y en la mitad de este caos, máquina y laberinto de cosas, se
le representó en la memoria de don Quixote que se veía metido de hoz y
de coz en la discordia del campo de Agramante” (544).

This Ariostan allusion recalls the infamous confusion among Agram-

Volume 29.2 (2009) The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split 169

ante’s troops in the Furioso, as Discord wreaks havoc on their camp on the
Christians’ behalf.
Like Atlante, then, Quixote’s “deincarnation as Magus” is reflected in
his inability to control events around him, and what emerges at this point
in the tale is a growing sense of powerlessness reminiscent of Atlante’s
disillusionment discussed above. Indeed, soon after the baciyelmo debate,
the priest prepares to take Don Quixote home; and at this point the nar-
rative threads that had appeared so neatly tied now begin to unravel. The
narrator comments:

En tanto que las damas del castillo esto pasaban con Don Quixote,
el cura y el barbero se despidieron de don Fernando y sus camaradas,
y del capitán y de su hermano y todas aquellas contentas señoras, es-
pecialmente de Dorotea y Luscinda. Todos se abrazaron y quedaron
de darse noticia de sus sucesos, diciendo don Fernando al cura dónde
había de escribirle para avisarle en lo que paraba don Quixote, ase-
gurándole que no habría cosa que más gusto le diese que saberlo, y que
él asimesmo le avisaría de todo aquello que él viese que podría darle
gusto, así de su casamiento, como del bautismo de Zoraida, y suceso de
don Luis, y vuelta de Luscinda a su casa (559).

Here, the apparent resolution to the tales is remanded to some future

time, and it becomes apparent that we do not know if Quixote’s interven-
tions will have a lasting effect. It is as if all of his efforts throughout the inn
episode were being undone little by little.
At this point in the narrative, Quixote finds himself completely pow-
erless, enclosed in a cage and believing himself to be the victim of an evil
enchanter. For a reader attuned to the parallels between the events in the
inn and those of Ariosto’s text, the unraveling of the chivalric interlaced
structure at this point would seem to signal the development of a more epic
portion of the novel, just as the destruction of Atlante’s castle allowed the
Furioso’s epic narrative to unfold. Cervantes in fact plays with these expec-
tations through his development of the Canon’s subsequent tirade against
novels of chivalry. As Quixote leaves the inn and heads for home enclosed
in a cage, the Canon appears and begins a discussion with the priest in
which he attacks typical chivalric novels for their lack of verisimilitude:

Y según a mí me parece, este género de escritura y composición cae

170 Julia Farmer Cervantes

debajo de aquel de las fábulas que llaman milesias, que son cuentos dis-
paratados que atienden solamente a deleitar, y no a enseñar […]. [L]
a mentira es mejor cuanto más parece verdadera, y tanto más agrada
cuanto tiene más de lo dudoso y posible. […] No he visto ningún li-
bro de caballerías que haga un cuerpo de fábula entero con todos sus
miembros, de manera que el medio corresponda al principio y el fin al
principio y medio, sino que los componen con tantos miembros, que
más parece que llevan intención a formar una quimera o un mostruo
que a hacer una figura proporcionada (564-65).

With his argument here—that chivalric tales lack both some greater
moral purpose and the unity of structure necessary for truly great litera-
ture—the Canon clearly echoes Tasso. Alban Forcione has observed nu-
merous other parallels between the Canon and Tasso in his chapter on the
former’s conversation with Quixote as well, and he makes clear that the
Canon enters the text at this point as a mouthpiece for Tasso’s ideas.
Indeed, it is no coincidence that the Canon espouses theory reminis-
cent of Tasso’s writings precisely at this point in the novel. As the Ariostan
interlace begins to unravel, the fact that the imprisoned and enchanted hi-
dalgo now finds himself at the mercy of the Tasso-spouting Canon reflects
Tasso’s ultimate victory in the epic-romance polemic, a polemic whose key
elements have been referenced subtly yet systematically throughout the
intercalated portion of the novel. Rather than serving simply as an iso-
lated and incidental reflection of the debate, that is, the Canon’s discussion
forms part of an intricate pattern of interlaced episodes meant to be read
in terms of specifically Ariostan narrative theory and practice. The complex
web that Cervantes weaves in his 1605 Quixote thus reveals a carefully-
constructed homage to one of the greatest literary quarrels of his day, as
the Furioso-inspired narrative threads framed by the yelmo episodes must
eventually make way for a new, Tasso-oriented literary domain.

University of West Georgia

jfarmer@westga.edu
Volume 29.2 (2009) The Ariostan Epic-Romance Split 171

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