ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a panoramic view of Spanish epic written in the modern period focusing on literary, theoretical and cultural perspectives. As the genre initiated its course around the last decade of Charles V’s imperial dominion, this chapter will mainly focus in the production from 1550, which coincides chronologically with the peak of influence of Ariosto’s Orlando furioso [The Frenzy of Orlando] throughout Europe, until the mid-seventeenth century, when Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata [Jerusalem Liberated] imposed a more severe and strict record of heroic deeds. This shift of interest cannot only be explained from the perspective of literary tradition but should attend to different circumstances. This chapter will thus offer a reading of Spanish epics through the comparison of several works, taking into account the tradition’s particularities with respect to Italian contemporary poems and its relation to contemporary political events and cultural concerns.
