celestina

     

The Celestina (use as title, synecdoche, one of the characters of the book actually called Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea or Libro de Calisto y Melibea y de la puta vieja Celestina) is a novel published anonymously by Fernando de Rojas (about whom we know little) in 1499. This book is considered to be one of the greatest in Spanish literature, and traditionally marks the end of medieval literature and the beginning of the literary renaissance in Spain. The book is written against the servants of the low nobility and advises us to beware of their tricks and lies. The story tells of Calisto, a bourgeois who falls in love with Melibea, the daughter of a nobleman; but following the machinations of Celestina their love has a tragic end after an accident in which Calisto falls off a ladder. On seeing this, Melibea subsequently decides to jump from a tower to her death. The name Celestina has become synonymous with procuress — especially an old woman - dedicated to promoting the illegal engagement of a couple — and the literary archetype of this character (her masculine counterpart is Pandarus).

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