15th Century Novel Trends: Idealistic and Realistic

Posted on Jan 28, 2025 in Philology

15th Century Novel Trends

Idealistic Trends

• Cavalry Novel:
  • Sentimental novel.
  • New genres like pastoral novel (inspired by Virgil, love stories among pastoralists).
  • Moorish novel (exalting the Moor’s nobility and sentiment).
  • Byzantine novel (imitating Heliodorus, adventures of a couple in love, with trips, kidnappings, shipwrecks, and happy endings).
• Idealistic Cavalry Book:
  • Preferred reading of the court.
  • Presented as a translation of a story written in a strange language.
  • Novela de Caballería: set in the Middle Ages, with fantastic events and archaic language.

Realistic Trends

• Picaresque Novel:
  • Born as a parody of idealistic narratives.
  • The hero is a rascal of low social rank, an antihero.
  • Aims to improve social status through cunning and deceit.
  • Lives outside the codes of honor.
  • Structure: false autobiography, narrated in first person.
  • Moralizing and pessimistic ideology.
  • Satirical and shifting structure.
  • Realism and naturalism in describing unpleasant aspects of reality.

Other Works

• Cervantes’ La Galatea: pastoral novel.
• Exemplary novels: short stories.
• Lostrabajos of Persil and Siguismunda.