«Celestina» in 21st Century Historical Fiction: «El ritual de las doncellas» (2006) by José Calvo Poyato and «En la orilla» (2016) by Rafael Chirbes

Abstract

The Tragicomedy of Calisto and Melibea (ca. 1502)—initially conceived as a comedy, and often identified as (La) Celestina—has never lacked readers since its composition soon before 1499. Nowadays, the bibliography on Celestina is immeasurable and its impact on theatrical performance and films quite sizeable. Furthermore, critics have started to pay attention to its influence on contemporary fiction. In this paper we analyze how two contemporary writers have interpreted and re-used Celestina in radically different manners and using disparate literary categories. Thus, on the one hand, Celestina inspires character development, plot, and historical reconstruction in El ritual de las doncellas (2006), a Baroque historical noir penned by historian José Calvo Poyato. On the other hand, for novelist Rafael Chirbes Celestina is not only a "toolbox" of techniques, scenes, and quotes useful for writers, but it also enacted a literary revolution by itself. More precisely, Celestina still embodies an ethical conception of literature according to which language becomes an instrument to reveal ideological manipulation, social corruption and the mistreatment of the vanquished in history. To sum up, by comparing José Calvo Poyato’s and Rafael Chirbes’ different visions and inconspicuous adaptations of Celestina in their novels, we can gain new insights into two intertextuality phenomena that affect popular and highbrow literature. This also reveals the literary values and creative power of this 15^th century masterpiece.