Celestina [Paperback]

Fernando de Rojas (Author), Eric Bentley (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2000

"As Greek tragedy," says a Spanish writer, "was composed from the crumbs that fell from Homer's table, so the Spanish drama owed its earliest forms to La Celestina (1499)." Fernando de Rojas' tragi-comedy - which has also been called "a novel in dialogue" - runs to about three hundred pages in the James Mabbe translation, here adapted to the stage by Eric Bentley in a five-act, 93-page version. The central and pervasive situation is a simple one: a dirty old woman is helping a courtly young gentleman to seduce a girl. The wonder of the thing lies in the art with which Fernando do Rojas derives, from such commonplace materials, a towering tragedy - or rather, tragi-comedy.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Spanish (translation)

From the Publisher

A classic in Spanish literature. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936839015
• ISBN-13: 978-0936839011
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,099,541 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Una joya de la literatura europea., November 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Celestina (Paperback)

Ante todo resulta incómodo ver valoradas con estrellitas (de 1 a 5) las obras maestras de la literatura universal.
La Celestina forma parte de esa veintena de obras maestras que forman lo más destacado de la literatura en cualquier idioma y de cualquier época. Sin lugar a dudas, la más fascinante, moderna, entretenida y asequible de su época. Una auténtica novela (dialogada) moderna.

Entre sus mejores momentos: la comida en casa de Celestina con los criados y prostitutas, el primer encuentro de Celestina y Melibea, Melibea esperando a Calixto en el jardín, y un final que te deja un nudo en la garganta. Ah!, y por supuesto la sabiduría popular de Celestina.

La comparación con Romeo and Juliet de Shakespeare no tiene sentido. Las dos obras son opuestas. Por otra parte no cabe duda de que La Celestina es muy superior (más compleja, densa, apasionada, humana, personajes más solidos y destacados...)

Cito a Riquer en su extraordinaria Historia de La Literatura Universal:

Cuando Calixto llega al jardín de Melibea por vez primera persiguiendo un halcón y queda herido por la belleza de la joven (escena de caza frecuente en las novelas cortesanas medievales, por ejemplo en el Cliges de Troyes), se levanta un vendaval que lo arrasará todo, lo bajo y lo elevado, el afecto más gratuito y la codicia más interesada. Y el lector tras tanta belleza, tantos primores, tanta poesía, tanto realismo y tras una tan bien conducida historia de unas almas en desasosiego, ve que la tragicomedia de Rojas, a pesar de su declarada intencion moralizadora, cae en el vacío, como Melibea al arrojarse de la torre, porque después de la muerte de los dos jóvenes Rojas sólo deja entrever un "infierno de enamorados"

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A forgotten and ignored classic, July 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Celestina (Paperback)

Celestina is amusing, ironic, and while the prose and dialogue is long and descriptive, it is never boring- I really enjoyed this play. A note to the person who claims to be the author: Celestina was written in 1499, and it is widely assumed the author lived circa the same time. So, congratultions on your 500th birthday. :)

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It captures the essance of good and evil in love., October 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: LA Celestina (Spanish Edition) (Paperback)

Fernando De Rojas captures the truth of the love between man and woman in a time when novels were rarely written. This book plays out of a drama that inhabits the first concepts of the tragedy of love. It is what books like Romeo and Juliet are compared to.