Miguel de Cervantes famously proclaimed in Don Quixote (1605) that Fernando de Rojas' Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea-better known as La Celestina-would be a divine work it if could have managed to conceal its all-too-human aspects. The reference is casually embedded in one of the prefatory poems fabricated by Cervantes for his novel. Attributed to a host of fictional characters of chivalric romance, these poems set a parodic tone through a rich cluster of direct and indirect references to common editorial practices, popular literary heroes and bestselling authors-they poked fun, for instance, at the preliminary texts that featured in Lope de Vega's successful pastoral novel La Arcadia (1598). 2 Like the rest of the novel, these paratexts both encapsulated and engaged with the discursive conventions and the literary standards that circulated throughout the publishing markets. The poem in question appears thus within a general context of literary rivalry as it also flaunts a series of intertextual remarks whose registers range from Tacitism and raison d'état to popular set phrases and proverbs. It is playfully composed in truncated lines that occlude their final rhyming syllables and is attributed to one 'Donoso', who dedicates it to Sancho and Rocinante: Soy Sancho Panza, escude-[ro] del manchego don Quijo-[te]; puse pies en polvoro-[sa], por vivir a lo discre-[to]; que el tácito Villadie-[go] toda su razón de esta-[do] cifró en una retira-[da] según siente Celesti-[na], libro en mi opinión divi-[no] si encubriera más lo huma-[no] 3 Ibid. pp. 31-2. 'Tomar las de Villadiego' is a popular expression equivalent to the English 'take to one's heels'. The (somewhat free) English translation is mine. 4 Russell 1953: 80. 5 Exemplarie nouells: in sixe books. The two damosels. The Ladie Cornelia. The liberall lover. The force of bloud. The Spanish ladie. The jealous husband. Full of various accidents both delightfull and profitable. By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra; one of the prime wits of Spaine, for his rare fancies, and wittie inventions. Turned into English by Don Diego Puede-Ser. London : Printed by Iohn Dawson, for R[alph] M[abbe] and are to be sold by Laurence Blaicklocke: at his shop at the Sugar-loafe next Temple Barre in Fleetstreet, 1640. STC: STC (2nd ed.) 4914 6 The rogue: or The life of Guzman de Alfarache. VVritten in Spanish by Matheo Aleman, seruant to his Catholike Maiestie, and borne in Seuill. London: Printed [by Eliot's Court Press and George Eld] for Edward Blount, 1623. STC: STC (2nd ed.) 289. 7 The Spanish bavvd, represented in Celestina: or, The tragicke-comedy of Calisto and Melibea: Wherein is contained, besides the pleasantnesse and sweetnesse of the stile, many philosophicall sentences, and profitable instructions necessary for the younger sort: shewing the deceits and subtilties housed in the bosomes of false seruants, and cunny-catching bawds. London : Printed by I[ohn] B[eale] and are to be sold by Robert Allot at the signe of the Beare in Pauls Churchyard , 1631. STC: STC (2nd ed.) 4911. ...
