ABSTRACT
The use of manna as a metaliterary figure anticipates prominent concerns of twentieth-century literary theory. In Spain, 'theory is intrinsic to the poetry of the time'. At their most innovative, in the vivid, poetic terms of angels' food, Golden Age authors offer tantalizing tastes of an early modern reception theory. Most significantly, Spanish Golden Age authors extend the application of the manna figure to texts beyond Holy Writ or sacred sermons. Whatever the reason for manna's varying tastes, it seems that its gustatory properties defy exact description, definition, and delimitation. From a very early point in the development of exegetical traditions concerning manna, it became associated symbolically with the spoken and written word. One critical approach, then, in view of the manna analogy, is to discern, if only speculatively, what sorts of varied tastes, emotions, and how the manna-like ingenuity of that text would stimulate, accommodate, and work upon them.
