Review by Patricia Kenworty of the books: Kathleen McNerney...

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From: Cervantes: Bulletin of the Cervantes Society of America 5.1 (1985): 72-76.
Copyright 1985, The Cervantes Society of America

REVIEW

Kathleen McNerney. Tirant lo Blanc Revisited. A Critical Study. Detroit: Michigan

Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 1983. 121 pages.
Antonio Torres-Alcal. El realismo de Tirant lo Blanch y su influencia en el Quijote.
Barcelona: Puvill, 1979. 172 pages.
These two critical studies plus David Rosenthal's recent English translation of Tirant lo Blanc (NY:
Schocken, 1983) signal the growing interest in Catalan studies in the United States, itself perhaps a
product of
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the current resurgence of Catalan literature and autonomy. While Prof. McNerney's book the major
study of Tirant in English provides a sound, insightful introduction to Joanot Martorell/Mart Joan
de Galba's fifteenth-century chivalric novel, Prof. Torres-Alcal's book proves to be a sad
disappointment. In this good news/bad news review, I shall start with the bad news.
Although Torres-Alcal claims that prior studies of the realism of Tirant and of its influence on the
Quijote are superficial, his book relies heavily on the work of several critics (especially Mart de
Riquer, William Entwistle, and Constantin Marinescu) while ignoring the studies of others. After
citing selected literary historians and philosophers to show that there is little critical consensus on the
definition of realism, Torres-Alcal settles on the Aristotelian notion of verisimilitude, which, he
believes, ha representado un papel muy vago y secundario en la crtica moderna (p. 31). A footnote
much later in the book (p. 148) suggests that he has read E. C. Riley's Cervantes' Theory of the Novel,
but obviously not with much care. In fact, the term verosimilitud is conspicuously absent from his
brief discussion of Don Quijote at the end of Chapter 3. In Chapter 2 the analysis of realism in
Tirant which comprises one half of the book literary verisimilitude initially cedes to a discussion of
realism as historical accuracy.
In order to show how Tirant, as opposed to the Spanish romances of chivalry, faithfully reflects
world geography and events, Torres-Alcal provides long lists of place names and historical
personages woven into the fictional fabric of the novel. This entire section about the novel's historical
background is essentially a synthesis of the research of others. Torres-Alcal's major addition is to
indicate that Martorell changed some English counts into dukes; conversely, Torres-Alcal
misidentifies the Duchess of Don Quijote II as Condesa (p. 137). His categories for discussing
Martorell's techniques for creating the illusion of reality (rational explanation of phenomena,
circumstantial evidence, colloquial dialogue, uninhibited eroticism) were first established, as he
acknowledges, by Dmaso Alonso and Mario Vargas Llosa. Torres-Alcal's one interesting and
original contribution to this chapter is his definition of humor in Tirant as the product of situations

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which are imposible pero verosmil. Parody is not a general informing principle of Tirant as it is in
the Quijote. Parody is employed exclusively to deflate the hierarchical and ceremonious court of
Constantinople by revealing sexual foibles more common to the novella or the bourgeois society of
contemporary Valencia. For example, it is unlikely that the Empress of the exemplary Christian court
of Constantinople would seduce a mere courtier; however, Martorell presents a very convincing and
funny portrait of an aging dowager, strapped with an old, impotent husband, lusting after a
handsome, virile, young man.
Chapter 3, which considers Martorell's influence on Cervantes, begins with yet another
re-statement of the findings of others in this case, the various interpretations of el pasaje ms
oscuro del Quijote. An indication

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of the poor organization of this book is that Daniel Eisenberg's article on this passage is not discussed
until fifteen pages later. Torres-Alcal proposes three hypothetical readings of the passage. In the first
he argues that both Tirant and its author are being praised, the condemnation of Martorell to the
galleys being an indirect ironic attack on the other chivalric romancers. Thus, Cervantes is just joking
when he condemns Martorell precisely for not writing the traditional chivalric necedades. TorresAlcal finds no irony in the praise of the novel. In the second reading, the book is praised and the
author condemned for his shameless amorality. In the third and least convincing interpretation,
Cervantes is attacking Martorell for writing necedades sin industria, that is, without a clearly stated
purpose or without having to disguise his intention. Torres-Alcal reads both Tirant and Don Quijote
as social satires written to attack the false pretensions of the nobility: Martorell by means of depicting
amoral nobles and Cervantes by means of creating a mad knight. My principal objection to this study
is that Torres-Alcal shows no real appreciation of the works as literature. It is no wonder that TorresAlcal finds it difficult to trace direct influences of Tirant on the Quijote since he sees both works as
the product of their social milieu: Cervantes' condition as a caballero desilusionado led to a parody
of chivalric ideals and Tirant's realism is simply a reflection of the positivistic, mercantile, Catalan
mentality. Torres-Alcal's brief list of similarities between the two novels omits the sham of being
translated from another language, the tale-within-a-tale technique, the episodes of the yeguas, and the
allegorical elements in the weddings of the King of England and of Camacho, to name a few. There is
no detailed comparative study of the techniques of humor and, as noted earlier, no appreciation of
Cervantes' techniques for creating verisimilitude. This study, in short, is poorly written, derivative,
and incomplete.
Prof. McNerney's Tirant lo Blanc Revisited is a clear and thoughtful guide to the novel. For
those readers who know no Catalan, English translations are provided. McNerney's book is
two-tiered: a cogent, concise summary of the present state of Tirant scholarship (Chapters 1 and 4)
and a sensitive, critical analysis of selected, significant topics (Chapters 2, 3, 5). Chapter 1 presents a
comprehensive overview of the externals (editions and translations), internals (a succinct rehearsal of
the long, complicated plot), and antecedents (the historical and literary sources) of the novel without
advancing any new theories about sources or the division of labor between Martorell and Galba.
Chapter 4, Martorell and the Critics, follows much the same pattern in its review of the critical
reception of Tirant from the priest's comments in Don Quijote I, 6, to 20th century scholars.

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McNerney outlines the general trends of this scholarship without indulging in long summaries of the
particular arguments of the different critics. For example, the section on el pasaje ms oscuro is
only a page long and proposes no new interpretations. The third section of the Bibliography (pp.
111-113) lists all the relevant studies. Of special interest to cervantistas is McNerney's

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checklist of similarities between Tirant and Don Quijote (pp. 62-64). Her principal contribution in this
chapter is an enlightening comparison of Vargas Llosa's comments on Tirant and Cien aos de
soledad with his own narrative techniques. The modernity of Tirant, first signaled by D. Alonso and
Vargas Llosa, is enhanced by this reflective reading.
The remaining chapters in the book constitute an important, new contribution to the study of the
structure and diction of the novel. McNerney's first step in the assessment of Martorell's place in the
evolution of the modern novel is to define Tirant as a closed, fictional biography of an heroic but
human knight-become-captain in opposition to the open-ended, fanciful romances of chivalry.
Cervantes attacked these romances for their reliance on the marvelous and for their lack of organic
cohesion. In Chapter 2, Balance, Opposition and Geometric Patterns, McNerney shows how
Martorell establishes a sense of unity throughout 487 chapters of adventures that range from England
to Rhodes to Constantinople to North Africa and back to Constantinople. Foreshadowing and
prophecies, parallelism in personalities and events, circularity in time and space, and interlocking sets
of triangular relationships among the principal characters all reinforce the structural unity provided by
the focus on Tirant's evolution from a fearless, somewhat ignorant knight to a shrewd diplomat and
military leader. The basic tension of the novel's structure is the alternation between battlefield and
bedroom campaigns. The central armed opposition is between Christians and Moors; the principal
amorous opposition is between Tirant and Carmesina, the Princess of Constantinople. Their social
inequality is brought into balance by an exchange of letters, gifts, and vows.
Chapter 3, Fact, Fiction, and Form, is an appreciation of Tirant as a stylistic bridge between the
chronicles of the Old World (such as Ramn Muntaner's 1328 Crnica of the exploits of Roger de
Flor, a major historical source for Martorell) and the New World chronicles (whose techniques are
shared by Francisco de Moncada's 1623 Expedicin de los catalanes y aragoneses contra turcos y
griegos). McNerney shows how both history and fiction employed the same language to establish
narrative authority. The two halves of her discussion of the Muntaner/Moncada chronicles are
curiously separated by another study of life/literature linguistic interplay: Martorell's incorporation of
the formulaic rhetoric of the lletres de batalla and vots as well as his use of proverbs and the religious
imagery of amorous discourse in order to animate and give verisimilitude to the dialogues.
Chapter 5, Images of Women and the Lyric Element, continues the analysis of Martorell's
characteristic diction. The first half of the chapter compares the lyrical imagery of the unrequited
lover in the poetry of Ausis March with that of his brother-in-law's novel. The liveliest, most
sustained and cohesive discussion in the book is that of the images of women in Tirant. Martorell was
not immune to the misogynistic prejudices of his time, but the vivid portraits of the lusty, yet
sympathetic Plaerdemavida and the Empress reveal that he was not bound by these conventions.

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PATRICIA KENWORTHY

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McNerney's study, as she makes clear in the preface, is selective. As a consequence, there is much
more discussion of the erotic elements in Tirant than of its battle scenes and court rituals. I suspect
this reading will reflect the modern readers' preference for amorous intrigue and verisimilar
characterization over catalogues and costumes. Her study may not be as balanced as Martorell's
novel, but it shares the novelist's sense of moderation and humor.
There are some lapses which must be noted. Cide Hamete Benengeli was the chronicler, not the
translator of Don Quijote (p. 10). Daniel Eisenberg is erroneously listed in the Bibliography as
David (p. 112). Omitting the original publication date of Moncada's chronicle (1623) results in the
contradictory identification of the work as from the sixteenth century (p. 20, n. 8) and the
seventeenth century (p. 54). The bibliography seems quite complete, with the exception of
McNerney's own Humor in Tirant lo Blanc, Fifteenth-Century Studies, 3 (1980), 107-114, which
should be read in conjunction with this book. The final paragraph of Chapter 2 strikes me as a more
appropriate conclusion for the book than for that chapter. In general, McNerney is well served by her
typist (the text is a photocopy of the typescript).
Despite the minor problems mentioned above, this study is to be recommended for its admirable
synthesis and critical insights. It is a persuasive argument in support of McNerney's call for new
studies of the literary value of this transitional, rewarding, and, at times, very funny novel.

PATRICIA KENWORTHY
Vassar College
Prepared with the help of Myrna Douglas

Fred Jehle jehle@ipfw.edu

Publications of the CSA
URL: http://www.h-net.org/~cervantes/csa/artics85/kenworth.htm

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