Florence Curt | Akateeminen Kirjakauppa

The mester de clerecia, 'craft of clerics', are the first recorded examples of learned poetry in Castilian. Written over the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, their stories are intertwined with the development of Iberian society through a tumultuous period of intellectual discovery, Reconquest, and religious reform. Despite their elite origins, these poems seek to engage a broad audience with their brand of Christian rhetoric. Curtis analyses the canonical thirteenth-century mester de clerecia along with the controversial Libro de buen amor (1330/43). Breaking new ground, she traces the common articulation of an orthopraxis or 'way' to be followed across this diverse group of poems, which defy categorization by secular, literary frameworks alone. Highlighting issues that are central to the poems, such as the limits of scientific progress, the value of indigenous tradition in relation to international culture, and sexual exploitation, Curtis demonstrates that the mester de clerecia, influential for modern writers such as Ruben Dario and Antonio Machado, still give pause for thought today.