The Cantar de mio Cid: poetic creation in its economic and social contexts

In this study, Joseph Duggan interprets the Cantar de mio Cid as a work that transmutes moral values first into the economic values of a gift economy, theninto genealogical values. Considering the poem’s distortions of history more significant than its retention of historical features, Duggan ascribes its depiction of the penurious hero who acquires wealth, power, and kinship alliancesto the Castilian monarchy’s preoccupations with furthering the victory of LasNavas de Tolosa. He maintains that the Cantar de mio Cid was composed around the year 1200 in substantially the form in which we have it now, in the courseof a singer’s performance. Arguing against a number of tendencies in Cid scholarship, Professor Duggan denies the necessity of assuming that the poet was aman of learning, that he was directly influenced by French literature, or that he was familiar with written law. INDICE: Acknowledgements; Modern equivalents to names in the maps; Maps; 1. Historical and theoretical framework; 2. The acquisition of wealth; 3. Economy and gift-giving; 4. Social status, legitimacy and inherited worth; 5. The poet’s milieu; 6. Geography and history; 7. The Cantar de mio Cid and the French epic tradition; 8. Mode of composition; 9. Conclusion; Notes; List of references; Index.

• ISBN: 978-0-521-06297-8
• Editorial: Cambridge University
• Encuadernacion: Rústica
• Páginas: 192
• Fecha Publicación: 15/05/2008
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés