Rhetorical Techniques Of Female Portraiture In Sentimental, Byzantine And Pastoral Novels. (spanish Text).

This thesis examines the techniques of female portraiture in the sentimental, byzantine and pastoral novels of XVth and XVIth century Spain. The selected works are analyzed in light of rhetorical prescriptions on the subject. Chapter I reviews the bibliography, summarizes the canons appearing in ancient rhetorical treatises, medieval poetics, and Spanish renaissance rhetorics in the vernacular; recalls the existence of static female portraits in medieval Spanish literature, and points to the development of a humanistic portrait (which follows Cicero's eleven attributes of people in the De inventione) in the XVth century and the confluence of both canons in the Celestina. It suggests Brunetto Latini's Tesoro as a possible source of static portraits in medieval Spain. Chapter II shows shadings of characterization in the sentimental novel, the exclusive presence of the humanistic portrait, and a lack of static physical description of women in these works. Chapter III studies a XVIth century translation of the Theagenes and Chariklea because of its impact on Spanish fiction at the time, and finds that Heliodorus' characters are flat and controlled by fate, which indicates little influence upon Cervantes' method of characterization. Clareo y Florisea is the only XVIth century Spanish byzantine novel with a static female portrait; and Contreras changes radically the portrayal of his female protagonist in the two redactions of the Selva de aventuras. Chapter IV finds in the pastoral novel an abundance of static female portraits, as well as the most complete characterization of women in the genres studied. Although the static descriptions exemplified in medieval poetics reappear in the middle of the XVIth century in one byzantine and in pastoral novels, the humanistic portrait predominates in all works. Female description becomes more complex and the number of attributes described in each portrait increases, culminating in those of Montemayor's Diana. The emphasis on the individual properties varies from one genre to another, but in all three affectio and natura are stressed. Sentimental novels accentuate fortuna while byzantine and pastoral ones coincide in extending the descriptions of consilia and casus.PhDLanguage, Literature and LinguisticsRomance literatureUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/127673/2/8422338.pd