«¿Mírasme? pues mírote»: Gaze and Subjectivity in Some Medieval Popular Riddles

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/fesa.figuras.2021.2.2.151

Keywords:

Riddle, Medieval, Popular lyric poetry, Subjectivity, Gaze

Abstract

In recent decades, the critics who have been concerned with the interpretation of  the riddles of medieval Hispanic popular lyric have adopted critical approaches oriented towards psychology and pedagogy, without taking into account the stylistic features they present due to their belonging to a specific lyric tradition. Nor have they paid much attention to the analysis of the lyrical subject and its poetic implications. Through the interpretation, from an informed stylistic analysis, some popular riddles fundamental characteristics of subjectivity are evaluated in this lyric form whose main feature is a poetics of dissimulation and obscurity based on the symbolism of the gaze.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

  • Rodrigo Cervantes-Espinosa, Independent Researcher

    The author holds a Ph.D. in Hispanic Literature by El Colegio de México. His doctoral thesis is entitled: La Corte como agudeza compuesta: análisis del concepto en las décimas poliestróficas de Luis de Góngora. Having fulfilled the requirements of the study programme of the Doctorate in Hispanic Literature in the Centro de Estudios Lingüísticos y Literarios, he has held a Master’s degree in Hispanic literature since July 2012. He is a graduate of the bachelor in Modern Language and Literature (English literature), taught at Colegio de Letras Modernas in the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras of UNAM. It was approved with honourable mention in April 2008 and distinguished with honourable mention in the award for the best degree work in February 2009.  

    In teaching, he has twelve years of experience as a high school teacher incorporated into UNAM and the Diploma program from the International Baccalaureate in several private institutions, in which, in addition to teaching classes in multiple courses, he has participated in training and refresher courses, as well as seminars, both for theoretical reflection on the subjects taught and for the revision of programmes and curricula. He has taught subjects in English and Spanish, English and Hispanic language, and literature. These include: Mexican and Hispanic American Literature, Reading and Writing Workshop in Spanish, English and English Literature, among others. 

References

Beutler, Gisela. Adivinanzas españolas de la tradición popular actual de México, principalmente de las regiones de Puebla-Tlaxcala. Editado por Wilhelm Lauer. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH, 1979.

Cerrillo, Pedro C. Adivinanzas populares españolas (estudio y antología). Cuenca: Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2000.

Correas, Gonzalo. Vocabulario de refranes y frases proverbiales (1627). Editado por Louis Combet. Bordeaux: Institut d’Études Ibériques et Ibéro-Américaines de l´Université de Bordeaux, 1967.

Frenk, Margit. Nuevo corpus de la antigua lírica popular hispánica (siglos XV a XVII). Vol. 1. México: UNAM-El Colegio de México-FCE, 2003.

Frenk, Margit. “Lírica tradicional y cultura popular en la Edad Media hispánica.” En Poesía popular hispánica: 44 estudios. México: FCE, 2006.

______. “Símbolos naturales en las viejas canciones populares hispánicas.” En Poesía popular hispánica: 44 estudios. México: FCE, 2006.

Gárfer, José Luis, y Concha Fernández. Adivinancero popular español. 2 vols. Madrid: Taurus, 1985.

Goldberg, Harriet. “Riddles and Enigmas in Medieval Castilian Literature.” Romance Philology 36, no. 2 (1982): 209-221.

______. “Women Riddlers in Hispanic Folklore and Literature.” Hispanic Review 59, no. 1 (1991): 57-75.

González Gutiérrez, María Gabriela. Hacer visible lo invisible. Estructuras y funciones de la adivinanza mexicana tradicional. Puebla: Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla-Plaza y Valdés, 1999.

Gracián, Baltasar. Agudeza y arte de ingenio. Madrid: Biblioteca Castro-Turner, 1993.

Graves, Robert. The White Goddess. A historical grammar of poetic myth. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975.

Mal Lara, Juan de. La philosophia vulgar. Editado por Antonio Vilanova. Vol. 1. Barcelona: Selecciones Bibliófilas, 1959.

Miaja, María Teresa, “La adivinanza. Sentido y pervivencia.” Acta poética 26, no. 1-2 (primavera/otoño 2005): 443-463.

Sylveira, Carlos. Adivinanzas, o la supervivencia de una manera poética de nominar al mundo. Alicante: Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 2009. Disponible en: http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/...l-mundo-0/html/ Revisado el 9 de febrero, 2021.

  • Abstract 580
  • PDF (Spanish) 288
  • Visor XML (Spanish) 293
  • ePub (Spanish) 99

Published

2021-03-01

Issue

Section

Research articles (Perspectives)

How to Cite

“«¿Mírasme? Pues mírote»: Gaze and Subjectivity in Some Medieval Popular Riddles”. 2021. FIGURAS REVISTA ACADÉMICA DE INVESTIGACIÓN 2 (2): 82-98. https://doi.org/10.22201/fesa.figuras.2021.2.2.151.

Metrics