ABSTRACT
The author or performer of parody tends to occupy a subordinate place, not simply as a copyist of the model, but also as its envious spectator or pupil. The metaphors applied to the author of parody show a tendency to see the performance as parasitic or criminal; the terms 'vampire', 'cannibal', 'thief or 'usurper' convey a negative vision of parody hard to reconcile with its depiction elsewhere as licensed play. One possibility is that the Fraire Menor copied Gui's cobla and rewrote it as a devotional song. Serious or sacred parody is a common device from the Counter-Reformation onwards, which has been extended by some critics to include twentieth-century texts. Guillern's parody is a compendium of reductive devices. It dehumanizes, exaggerates and defames its object, devoting much attention to his actions, appearance and the distortions of his body, until 'Rogier' becomes a monster.
