ABSTRACT
The collection of novellas by Cervantes, the Novelas ejemplares [Exemplary Novels], constitute the first manifestation of this narrative macrogenre by a Spanish author. However, the assumption of his novelty and originality in this area is not completely accurate; in fact, a series of different narrative traditions had been developing in the sixteenth century, which he took and made his own. In addition to Boccaccio, we need to consider the Spanish medieval tradition, as well as certain autochthonous collections like that of Timoneda and, in particular, the unpublished Novelas by Pedro de Salazar, with which Cervantes could develop an interesting dialogue. These antecedents developed between 1560 and 1580 and led to the systematic translation of the Italian novellieri (between 1580–1600), creating a horizon of readerly expectations that Cervantes cements in his collection, combining exemplarity with entertainment. Finally, in the 1620s, Lope de Vega (a rival of Cervantes on so many occasions) takes up this creative tension and offers his own version of the genre, the Novelas a Marcia Leonarda [Stories for Marcia Leonarda], a new arte de hacer novelas [art of writing novellas] that comes from a critical and paradoxical gaze.
