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and the drama of the Spanish Golden Age in gen-
eral find their most moving expression, including
the nature of reality and fantasy, the damaging ef-
fects of human pride and honor, and humankind’s
struggle for freedom against the forces of nature
and destiny.
After participating and being wounded in mili-
tary campaigns, Calderón de la Barca began writ-
ing again after 1640 and resumed his religious
career. He continued these religious and literary
activities until his death four decades later, com-
posing a prolific number of dramas.
For his mastery of various verse forms, moving
depiction of human struggles, and original explo-
ration of existential themes, Calderón de la Barca
remains one of the most important figures of
Spanish literature. His influence has spread beyond
the confines of his native country, and he has both
directly and indirectly helped shape Western
drama and literature over the past four centuries.
An English Version of Works by
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Six Plays. Translated by Edwin Honig. New York:
Iasta, 1995.
A Work about Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Hesse, Everett Wesley. Calderón de la Barca. New
York: Twayne, 1967.
Calvin, John (1509–1564) theologian,
religious leader, reformer
Born in Noyon, France, Jean Cauvin (John Calvin
is the anglicized form of his name) was the son of
a middle-class Catholic lay administrator. Calvin
was educated at the University of Paris with the in-
tent to become a priest. However, after his father
had a break with church authorities, Calvin was
sent to study law in Orlèans from 1528 to 1531.
He remained very interested in theological study
and, after his return to Paris in 1531, he became
part of a radical student movement that called for
reform in the Church. Calvin began to study
Greek, Hebrew, and Latin in order to make a seri-
ous analysis of the scriptures and classical texts. In
1532, he published his first work, Commentary on
Lucius Anneas Seneca’s Two Books on Clemency.
Calvin gradually began to move toward Protes-
tantism as a result of his association with Nicolas
Cop and other reformers at the University of
Paris. However, because of his involvement with
the reform movement, Calvin was forced to leave
Paris. He made his way to Basel, Switzerland, a
Protestant city, where he began to systematically
study theology. In Basel, he began to write his
most influential work, Institutio Christianae Reli-
gionis, or Institutes of the Christian Religion. This
work was a commentary on the Bible and a re-
sponse to critics of Protestantism. The work out-
lined what would become the fundamentals of
Calvinism: the doctrine of predestination, which
proposed that people can be saved only by God’s
grace, not by good works, and that God grants sal-
vation only to the chosen, or elect; the literal truth
of the Bible; and the idea of a church community
where God is at the head and all other members
are equal. Calvin revised and expanded the Insti-
tutes many times throughout his life. The first edi-
tion was published in 1536; Calvin’s final edition
was published in 1560.
The publication of the Institutes gained Calvin
fame among Protestant reformers and led to his
settlement in Geneva to help establish Protes-
tantism. Calvin quickly became a Protestant leader
but was forced into exile in 1638 by Geneva’s town
council with whom he had clashed over the right
of excommunication.
After three years in the city of Strasbourg,
Calvin was invited back to Geneva, where the town
council had become more amenable to his brand
of Protestantism. His religious reforms, known as
the Ecclesiastical Ordinances (1641), were quickly
instituted. These ordinances included compulsory
religious education and his ideal of a church com-
munity founded on the equality of all members.
The city enforced Calvinist morality, which in-
cluded bans on gambling, dancing, and swearing.
The religious zeal of Calvinist Geneva reached a
peak in 1553, when the Spanish theologian
Calvin, John 37
Michael Servetus was burned at the stake for
preaching unorthodox beliefs.
During this time, Calvin authored extensive
commentaries on books of the Bible. He first pub-
lished a commentary on Romans in 1539, followed
by the other letters of St. Paul and the remaining
New Testament books, excluding Revelation and
most of the Old Testament books. Other works in-
clude The Harmony of the Three (Synoptic) Gospels
(1563) and Sermons on Job.
Calvin’s legacy remains undiminished to this
day. He is generally considered to be the most im-
portant Protestant reformer other than Martin
LUTHER. His writings on church organization and
his commentaries on the books of the Bible are still
important theological works that have influenced
Protestant churches throughout the world.
English Versions of Works by John Calvin
Calvin’s Commentary on Seneca’s De Clementia.
Translated by Ford Lewis Battles and Andre Malan
Hugo. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1969.
Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 vols. Translated
by John Allen. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of
Christian Education, 1928.
On the Christian Faith: Selections from the Institutes,
Commentaries and Tracts. Edited by John T. Mc-
Neill. Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberal Arts Press, 1957.
Works about John Calvin
Bouwsma, William J. John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Cen-
tury Portrait. New York: Oxford University Press,
1989.
Breen, Quirinus. John Calvin: A Study in French Hu-
manism, 2nd ed. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books,
1968.
Walker, Williston. John Calvin: The Organizer of Re-
formed Protestantism. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and
Stock, 2004.
Camões, Luíz Vaz de (Camoëns)
(1524?–1580) poet, playwright
The details of Camões’s life are not fully clear,
though it is known that he was born in Portugal to
a family from Galicia. After studying at Coimbra
University, he moved to Lisbon in 1543. He fought
abroad as a soldier for some time, losing an eye in
Morocco, and eventually enlisted for service in
India. He lived in Asia, from India to the China
Seas, for 17 years, a number of which were spent
at the Indian seaport of Goa.
When he returned to Portugal in 1570, he
brought with him the manuscript for Os Lusíadas
(published 1572), an
EPIC poem dedicated to the
young king Sebastian of Portugal. The poem,
which celebrates the nation of Portugal, earned
him royal accolades and a pension too small to
support him. He lived his remaining years in
poverty and died heartbroken on June 10, when
Philip II of Spain invaded Camões’s beloved
homeland.
Camões’s poetry, including odes, satires, SON-
NETS, epigrams, and elegies, was not substantially
published under his name until 1595 in the collec-
tion Rimas. He was also the author of multiple
comedies, including Amphitriões (in which he
adapts works by Plautus) and Filodemo, but his goal
was to write a national epic, and to this end the
hero of his epic poem is not a man, but a nation.
Os Lusíadas, written in ottava rima, describes the
story of Vasco da Gama’s voyage throughout the
world, relating many of the adventures he encoun-
tered and serving as a record of many main events
in Portuguese history. Da Gama, however, is not the
hero of the poem but represents the country of
Portugal. His exploits are intended to emphasize
different aspects of the glory of is homeland.
Camões’s true love for his country is obvious in the
depth of feeling he brings to his writing.
The structure of Os Lusíadas is based on
Homer’s Aeneid. The epic is peopled by such char-
acters as Fate, Venus, Mars, Bacchus, Mercury,
Neptune, Hindu chiefs, and the Nereids. At the be-
ginning of the story, the gods hold a meeting to
discuss the fate of da Gama’s voyage. The various
godly personages weave in and out of da Gama’s
extensive journey, appearing throughout the world
as he travels. In part two of the first book, Camões
begins with a statement about the grand and
38 Camões, Luíz Vaz de
sweeping nature of the narrative he is about to tell,
writing that “My song shall sow through the
world’s every part.”
Over the years, Camões’s work has been very in-
fluential on poets of the English-speaking world.
He was a major influence on MILTON, Poe, Melville,
Wentworth, and Dickinson. VOLTAIRE was known
to call him the “Portuguese Virgil.” Camões’s ap-
peal was wide and deep, making his relative ob-
scurity today somewhat surprising—many of his
works have not been translated into English, and
many translations are out of print. Nevertheless,
Camões is remembered for having developed the
Portuguese lyric to the highest levels of beauty and
style and for his influence on the development of
Portuguese drama.
English Versions of Works by
Luíz Vaz de Camões
“Dear Gentle Soul.” Translated by Roy Campbell in
World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity
to Our Time. Edited by Katharine Washburn and
John S. Major. New York: Quality Paperback Book
Club, 1998.
The Lusiads. Translated by Sir Richard Fanshawe.
Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,
1963.
The Lusiads of Luíz de Camões. Translated by Leonard
Bacon. New York: Hispanic Society of America,
1950.
Works about Luíz Vaz de Camões
George, Monteiro. The Presence of Camões: Influences
on the Literature of England, America and Southern
Africa. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press,
1996.
Thorlby, Anthony, ed. The Penguin Companion to Lit-
erature 2, European. Middlesex, England: Penguin
Books, 1969.
Campanella, Tommaso (1568–1639)
philosopher, theologian
Tommaso Campanella is one of the main intellec-
tuals of the Italian RENAISSANCE. Born in the region
of Naples, his real name was Giovan Domenico,
and his father was an illiterate cobbler. Campanella
entered the Dominican order in 1582, where he
adopted the name “Tommaso.”
Campanella was very interested in medicine
and philosophy, avidly reading Plato, Galen, and
Hippocrates. Among his other major influences
are Averroës and St. Thomas Aquinas. The intellec-
tual atmosphere in Naples at the time allowed him
to come in contact with a diverse range of topics,
such as astrology, magic, and mysticism.
His opposition to Aristotle is at the center of
Campanella’s philosophy. In his masterpiece, The
City of the Sun (1602), he bases his reasoning on
Plato and criticizes Aristotle. The poem, published
in 1623, takes the form of a dialogue in which
Campanella juxtaposes the justice of a utopian city
with communist ideals.
In 1599, Campanella led a peasant revolt in Cal-
abria, for which he was arrested and incarcerated.
He spent 27 years in prison, during which time he
was tortured and after which he was exiled and
went to Paris, where he died.
Campanella wrote most of his works while in
prison. While his works are complex and often am-
biguous, Campanella is remembered for his meta-
physical lyrical poetry and his numerous treatises
on astronomy, theology, and rhetoric.
See also Giordano BRUNO; Galileo GALILEI.
English Versions of Works by
Tommaso Campanella
The City of the Sun: A Poetical Dialogue. Translated by
Daniel John Donno. Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1982.
The Defense of Galileo. Translated and edited by Grant
McColley. New York: Arno Press, 1975.
Works about Tommaso Campanella
Bonansea, Bernardino M. Tommaso Campanella: Re-
naissance Pioneer of Modern Thought. Washington,
D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1969.
Headley, John. Tommaso Campanella and the Trans-
formation of the World. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1997.
Campanella, Tommaso 39
Cantemir, Dimitrie (Dmitri Kantemir,
Kantemiroglu)
(1673–1723) historian,
philosopher
Dimitrie Cantemir was born in Moldavia at a time
when it was under Ottoman control. As a Molda-
vian noble, he received an excellent education. He
lived in Constantinople from 1688 to 1710, ini-
tially as a hostage to ensure his family’s loyalty to
the Ottomans. During this time he married Casan-
dra Cantacuzino. Their son Antiokh Kantemir
(1708–44) would later become famous in Russia
for his satirical poetry.
In 1710 Dimitrie became prince (or “hospo-
dar”) of Moldavia and, as ruler, secretly allied him-
self with Emperor Peter I of Russia. When the
Ottomans defeated Peter’s army in 1711, Cantemir
fled Moldavia with his family and numerous sub-
jects, but Peter I rewarded him with an estate and
an annual pension. In 1722 Cantemir traveled with
Peter as a key adviser in another campaign against
the Ottomans. Cantemir fell ill during the journey,
however, and returned to his Ukrainian estate,
where he died in August of the following year.
Cantemir’s The Divan or The Wise Man’s Parley
with the World or The Judgement of the Soul with
the Body (1698) was the first published book writ-
ten in the Romanian language. His other works,
most written in Latin, include Hieroglyphic History
(1703–05), a satiric fable about Romanian poli-
tics; An Examination of the Nature of Monarchy
(1714), which praises monarchy in general and
Peter I in particular; Concerning the System of the
Mohammedan Religion (1722); and descriptions of
Middle Eastern music that musicologists still con-
sider valuable.
Cantemir is most famous for his histories,
whose readers included
VOLTAIRE and possibly
Jonathan SWIFT. Description of Moldavia (1716) and
Chronicle of the Romanians, Moldavians, and Vlachs
(begun in 1717) cover the history and culture of his
native land. In The History of the Growth and Decay
of the Ottoman Empire (1716), he turns his atten-
tion to the Ottomans’ gain of control over outlying
territories. He writes that the Ottoman Turks prefer
not brute force but more subtle political devices,
which he calls “treacherous mechanica.” He argues
that the Ottomans have been in decline since 1672
and that Peter I should attack them.
Orest Subtelny has described Cantemir as “an
industrious and self-disciplined individual who
had firsthand experience in the areas about which
he wrote.” According to Subtelny, Cantemir’s
works “marked not only a high point in Roman-
ian cultural history but were also major events in
European scholarship” and are valued for “provid-
ing precious data and rare insights.”
See also
ENLIGHTENMENT.
An English Version of a Work by
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir. Historian of South East European
and Oriental Civilizations. Extracts from The His-
tory of The Ottoman Empire. Edited by Alexandru
Dutu and Paul Cernovodeanu. Bucharest: Associ-
ation internationale d’études du sud-est européen,
1973.
Works about Dimitrie Cantemir
Kellogg, Frederick. A History of Romanian Historical
Writing. Bakersfield, Calif.: Charles Schlacks,
1990.
Subtelny, Orest. Domination of Eastern Europe: Native
Nobilities and Foreign Absolutism, 1500–1715.
Kingston and Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Univer-
sity Press, 1986.
Cao Xuequin (Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in)
(1715–1764) poet, novelist
Cao Xuequin was of Chinese descent but he was
born in the Manchu Banner system. A bannerman
was a person who owed hereditary military serv-
ice to the Manchu, who were rulers of China from
the 17th to the early 20th centuries. Very little is
known about Cao’s life except that he was either
the grandson or grandnephew of the well-known
scholar-gentry Cao Yin (1658–1712), who rose to
prominence during the reign of Emperor Kangxi
(Kang-hsi). Cao Yin had apparently been Kangxi’s
companion and playmate in the latter’s youth, and
40 Cantemir, Dimitrie
his loyalty to the emperor reaped rewards in the
form of a promotion to the post of superintend-
ent of the Imperial Textile Factories at Nanking.
Though most facts about the novelist Cao remain
undetermined, it is commonly believed that a few
years after Cao was born, the Cao family fell upon
hard times.
The family enjoyed a brief reprieve from hard-
ship during the reign of Qian Long (Ch’ien-lung);
however, they were to suffer greater misfortunes
later, including a disastrous fire that destroyed
most of their property. The only source of infor-
mation regarding Cao’s life after the fire is a num-
ber of poems addressed to him and written by his
friends. One poem describes Cao as living in
greatly reduced circumstances in the western sub-
urb of Beijing (Peking), while another suggests
that Cao’s family survived mostly on gruel. Cao
died an embittered, heartbroken, and impover-
ished man in 1764, grieving over his son’s untimely
death. Cao himself was apparently suffering from a
terminal illness.
Cao’s main work is the novel The Dream of the
Red Chamber (also known as The Story of the Stone
or Dream of Red Mansions), of which only 80 chap-
ters exist. It is somewhat of an autobiographical
novel reflective of Cao’s own life experiences.
Scholars believe that several events narrated in the
novel, including the fire, are actual incidents that
occurred during the novelist’s short life. The vari-
ant copies and versions of the novel, bearing dif-
ferent dates, may be accounted for by the fact that
Cao’s 80 chapters were left in more or less unfin-
ished form. The discrepancies and controversies
surrounding these variant versions do not reduce
the value of The Dream of the Red Chamber and its
significance in the field of Chinese and world lit-
erature. As Chi-Chen Wang states in his introduc-
tion to his translation of the work:
It is the first and only autobiographical novel
in traditional Chinese literature, the first to give
a true picture of the complexities of life in a
large family, the first to show that love can be
painful and end in tragedy. It reflects a dis-
tinctly personal point of view and has a unity of
plot beyond that of mere chronology. Its char-
acters are drawn with subtlety and truth, as its
dialogue is faithful to the colloquial idiom.
Cao’s work should be examined not only in the
temporal context of its composition, but also in
terms of the history of Chinese literature and its
development. As novels rose from the rank of folk
traditions, they were never considered part of the
scholarly literary genre. It was not until well into
the latter part of the Ming and early Qing (Ch’ing)
dynasties that the genre of Chinese novel became
more established in Chinese literature. The Dream
of the Red Chamber also became one of four great
Chinese novels, the other three being The Journey
to the West by WU CHENGEN; Golden Lotus from the
JIN PING MEI by Xiao Xiaosheng (Hsiao-hsiao-
sheng); and The Scholars by WU JINGZI (Wu Ching-
tzu). Cao’s work shares many similarities with
earlier works influenced by Confucian ideas and
ethics, not only in terms of content, but also in the
extensive use of formalized literary language in-
termixed with more colloquial forms of expres-
sion, to describe characters.
Critical Analysis
The Dream of the Red Chamber is ultimately a re-
alistic portrayal of family life and relationships, al-
though it is commonly viewed as a love story. The
subject of the novel is the Jia family and the tragic
tale of their downfall from a position of affluence
and power. The word jia (chia) is a homonym of
the Chinese character or word for family; thus, the
Jia family represents a generic upper-class family
susceptible to the ravages of time.
The book opens with an explanation of how the
story came to be and why it is important:
Four thousand six hundred and twenty-three
years ago the heavens were out of repair. So the
Goddess of Works set to work and prepared
36,501 blocks of precious jade....[She] cast
aside the single remaining block upon one of
the celestial peaks....
Cao Xuequin 41
One day a Buddhist and a Taoist priest, who
happened to be passing that way . . . noticed the
disconsolate stone....
“Indeed, my friend, you are not wanting in
spirituality,” said the Buddhist priest to the
stone. . . . “But we cannot be certain that you
will ever prove to be of any real use; and, more-
over, you lack an inscription, without which
your destiny must necessarily remain unful-
filled.”
Thereupon he put the stone in his sleeve
and rose to proceed on his journey.
“And what, if I may ask,” inquired his com-
panion,“do you intend to do with the stone ...?”
“I mean,” replied the other, “to send it down
to earth, to play its allotted part in the fortunes
of a certain family now anxiously expecting its
arrival. You see, when the Goddess of Works re-
jected this stone, it used to fill up its time by
roaming about the heavens, until chance
brought it alongside of a lovely crimson flower.
Being struck with the great beauty of this flower,
the stone remained there for some time, tending
its protégée with the most loving care, and daily
moistening its roots with the choicest nectar of
the sky, until at length, yielding to the influence
of disinterested love, the flower changed its form
and became a most beautiful girl.
“‘Dear stone,’ cried the girl, in her new-
found ecstasy of life,‘the moisture you have be-
stowed upon me here I will repay you in our
future state with my tears!’”
Ages afterwards, another priest, in search
of light, saw this self-same stone lying in its
old place . . . and saw that it bore a plain un-
varnished tale of Beauty and anguish walk-
ing hand in hand—“The downward slope to
death,” telling how a woman’s artless love
had developed into deep, destroying passion;
and how from the thrall of a lost love one
soul had been raised to a sublimer, if not a
purer conception of man’s mission upon
earth. He therefore copied it out from begin-
ning to end.
Thus, The Dream of the Red Chamber begins.
Using a variety of characters with personality traits
ranging from conniving to sensible and weak, Cao
was able to weave together a tale of disappoint-
ment, intrigue, love, and melancholy. His intricate
and detailed descriptions of the moods and men-
tality of his characters allow readers to simultane-
ously criticize and empathize with them.
The form of the novel is episodic and may be
divided into three parts. The first section com-
prises episodes representing the Jia family at the
height of prosperity. Cao describes ordinary daily
actions and events in the Jia mansion, which in-
clude illustrations of family quarrels, illnesses, and
the expectations and fears of some of the main
characters. The story contains a long list of charac-
ters, which is a common trait of Chinese novels.
The main plot revolves around the key figures
Baoyu (Pao-yu), Taiyu (Tai-yu), Baozhai (Pao-
chai), and the matriarch of the Jia family. The tri-
angular love story involving the three young
people parallels the tragic unfolding of misfor-
tunes, which leads eventually to the Jias’ downfall.
The main theme of the first section focuses on the
idea of hubris, or overweening pride that comes
before a fall. The predominant image is that of an
apparently stable household perching precariously
on shaky foundations.
The second part of the novel describes the de-
velopment of recurring incidents that contribute
to the downfall of the Jia family. In the last section
of the novel, exemplified in the last chapter of the
novel, the main theme is the idea of rebuilding the
family, which is now in a shambles. The incidents
experienced by the Jia family parallel that of Cao’s
family.
The structure of The Dream of the Red Chamber
is representative of the typical Chinese convention
whereby chapters are linked to others via the use of
repetition. At the end of each chapter in the book,
there is always a phrase informing what will hap-
pen in the next chapter.
Besides the key themes of stability, instability,
and hubris, there are several other important
42 Cao Xuequin
influences that can be discerned in Cao’s writing.
One main influence is the importance of supernat-
uralism, as can be seen in the beginning, as well as
throughout the tale. A typical device used in Chi-
nese novels is the use of dreams to foretell or to
inform the main characters of their impending
misfortune or experience. Dreams can sometimes
be utilized to guide the actors’ behavior. In the
book, dream sequences such as Baoyu’s desire for
marital consummation not only mark the thin line
that separates the supernatural and mundane
worlds, but also influence the characters’ actions.
For example, Baoyu’s desire to consummate his
union with his cousin, Taiyu, which is foreshad-
owed in his dream, leads him to hastily seek a sub-
stitute in his personal maid.
Another important theme is the influence of
three elements of Chinese society: Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Daoism (Taoism). The Confu-
cian elements of the novel are exemplified in the
characters’ rigid attitudes and behavior. Daoist el-
ements are represented both metaphorically and
philosophically through the Daoist priest who
reappears throughout the story and through the il-
luminating discussion about origins of the magic
stone. Finally Buddhist ideas are encapsulated in
the way Baoyo perceives life after he loses his fa-
vorite jade, Taiyu dies, and his marriage with
Baozhai fails.
As Liu Wuchi points out in the foreword to
Knoerle’s critical study of The Dream of the Red
Chamber:
The study of The Dream of the Red Chamber
(Hung-loumeng), which continues to attract
critical attention today in China and abroad,
has acquired a designation of its own: Hung-
hsueh, or “Red-ology.” No other Chinese novel
at any period of China’s long literary history
has aroused such an immense interest in schol-
arly communities as this mid-eighteenth cen-
tury novel by Ts’ao Hsüeh-ch’in, the
impoverished scion of a once wealthy official
family.
English Versions of a Work by Cao Xuequin
The Dream of the Red Chamber. Translated by Chi-
Chen Wang. New York: Twayne, 1958.
The Dream of the Red Chamber. Translated by Flo-
rence and Isabel McHugh. New York: Pantheon
Books, 1958.
Works about Cao Xuequin
Hsia, C. T. “Love and Compassion in ‘Dream of the
Red Chamber.’” Criticism 5 (Summer 1963):
261–271.
Knoerle, Jeanne. The Dream of the Red Chamber: A
Critical Study. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1972.
Wu Shi-Chang. On the Red Chamber Dream. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1961.
Carrío de la Vandera, Alonso (ca. 1715–
after 1778) explorer, travel writer
Little is known of Alonso Carrío de la Vandera’s
early life, other than that he was born in Gijón. As
an adult, he moved to Mexico in 1735, but later
moved to Lima, where he spent the majority of his
life. He held government positions from 1746 until
his death. His writings have been said to encom-
pass 300 years of history, and “by subverting colo-
nial order,” to open the door to “new forms of
expression” that arose after Peruvian independence
(Cevallos-Candau).
His most well known work is El lazarillo de cie-
gos caminantes (El Lazarillo: A Guide for Inexperi-
enced Travelers), which served as a guidebook for
travelers using the road from Buenos Aires to
Lima. He attributed the work to his partner, Cal-
ixto Bustamante Carlos Inca, who was known by
the nickname of Concolorcorvo, or “crow with
color.” It was also under this pseudonym that Van-
dera wrote, creating obvious identity confusion.
El lazarillo was written in 1775, and is now con-
sidered by many as the precursor to the Spanish-
American novel. Vandera was traveling during a
time of insurgent exploration, whether by mule,
boat, or foot. “Concolorcorvo inscribed himself
Carrío de la Vandera, Alonso 43
within a tradition that goes back to classical times
and at the close of the eighteenth century enjoyed
enormous prestige and popularity” (Stolley 250).
El lazarillo is not only a tour of the 1771 South
American postal system, but also a social and po-
litical commentary. It is riddled with satirical
humor and observations of the native peoples he
encountered in his travels, and while Vandera was
writing in the genre of the
TRAVEL NARRATIVE, his
work also contains novel elements such as stories
and descriptions of people and settings. For this
reason, El lazarillo is somewhat of a “hybrid text,”
which has made it difficult for scholars to catego-
rize the work on numerous levels. Of course, it is
Vandera’s subversion of form and practice that
opened the door to “new forms of expression” (Ce-
vallos-Candau). This element of his work, as well
as the historical and cultural information Vandera
provides make El lazarillo worth remembering.
An English Version of a Work by Alonso
Carrío de la Vandera
El Lazarillo: A Guide for Inexperienced Travelers Be-
tween Buenos Aires and Lima, 1773. Translated by
Walter D. Kline. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1965.
A Work about Alonso Carrío de la Vandera
Franco, Jean. An Introduction to Spanish-American
Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1995.
Carver, Jonathan (1710–1780) explorer,
travel writer
Jonathan Carver was one of the most famous trav-
elers and travel writers of the 18th century. Be-
tween the years of 1766 and 1768, Carver explored
the territory beyond the Mississippi, hoping to
find a northwest passage between the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. Starting in Boston, his journey
westward took him to what is present-day Min-
nesota. He followed the Mississippi River nearly to
the site of Minneapolis on the Minnesota River. In
a second journey, he reached Lake Superior.
The account of his travels, Travels through the
Interior Parts of North America in the Years 1766,
1767, 1768, is the first description in English of
the areas that he explored. A noteworthy feature
of the book is a detailed map of the western
Great Lakes and upper Mississippi Valley area.
Published in 1778, Travels through the Interior
Parts of North America became one of the most
popular early travel accounts in America. It was
translated into foreign languages and printed in
30 editions, 16 of which appeared by 1798.
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Chateaubriand, and
SCHILLER admired it.
Despite the book’s popular success, Carver re-
ceived little financial reward or acclaim as an au-
thor during his lifetime. Unsuccessful in his
attempts to recover payment for the expenses of
his expedition, he traveled to England to make a
case for payment of his services. He worked in
England as a cartographer and secured a pub-
lisher for his travel journals. The publisher, how-
ever, added material from other writers without
attribution, damaging Carver’s literary reputa-
tion and financial security. Only after the British
Museum acquired the original travel journals
and publication drafts in the early 20th century
was Carver’s reputation as an explorer and au-
thor restored.
During 1778 and 1779, Carver authored two
additional works, The New Universal Georgraphy
and Treatise on the Culture of the Tobacco Plant. He
died destitute in 1780. Today historians and schol-
ars recognize Carver’s contributions to 18th-cen-
tury travel literature and historical records.
However, few of his works remain in print.
Works by Jonathan Carver
A Treatise on the Culture of the Tobacco Plant. Lon-
don: Printed by the author, 1779.
The Journals of Jonathan Carver and related docu-
ments, 1766–1770. Edited by John Parker. St. Paul:
Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976.
Travels through the Interior Parts of North America in
the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768. London: Printed by
J. Walter, 1778.
44 Carver, Jonathan
Castellanos, Juan de (1522–1607) poet,
historian
Juan de Castellanos is best known for his rhymed
chronicle, Elegías de varones ilustres de Indias (Ele-
gies of Illustrious Men of the Indies), which de-
scribes the discovery and conquest of America. At
150,000 lines, it is the longest poem written in the
Spanish language and is one of the longest written
poems in world literature.
Written in the tradition of
EPIC poetry, Elegies
is divided into four sections, the first of which
deals with the discovery of America and includes
material on the conquest of Mexico and Venezuela.
The second part continues the history of
Venezuela, Cabo de la Vela, and Santa Marta. The
third section covers the history of the governor-
ships of Cartagena, Popayán,Atioquia, and Chocó;
the fourth part concludes with a history of the new
kingdom of Granada.
Since he arrived in America as a youth and
spent many years in the New World, Castellanos
considered himself an American Spaniard. Starting
in America as a soldier and later becoming a priest,
Castellanos lived a life rich in experience. He wrote
about the highlights of his experiences as an
acolyte, a pearl fisherman, a soldier, adventurer,
and parish priest living in areas of the New World,
ranging from Puerto Rico to Colombia.
His writings appealed to
RENAISSANCE prefer-
ences for narrative literature. Stylistically his nar-
ratives are described as sincere, passionate, and
facetious in the use of irony. He also shows close
attention to detail in the careful descriptions of the
flora and fauna of the American world.
Elegies has been recognized as one of the most
remarkable works in world literature. It is a rich
source of information for the periods of discov-
ery and conquest, placing Castellanos among the
most authoritative of early historians of the New
World.
An English Version of a Work by
Juan de Castellanos
The Narrative of the expedition of Sir Francis Drake to
the Indies and the taking by him of Carthagena.
Translated by Walter Owen. Buenos Aires: [s.n.],
1952.
Castiglione, Baldessare (1478–1529)
nonfiction writer
Castiglione was the quintessential courtier. He
served as a military commander, diplomat, adviser,
and papal nuncio. His experience and his connec-
tions at court provided the raw material for his
only known work, The Courtier (1528). He spent
much of his life revising the work, which he origi-
nally began in 1516. When it was finally published,
it was a huge success both in Italy and abroad.
The Courtier seeks to describe proper aristo-
cratic behavior and is a dialogue among Cas-
tiglione’s closest friends. To pass the time, they
discuss the characteristics of the ideal courtier. Be-
cause the speakers differ, there is disagreement
over many issues. However, what emerges is a gen-
eral image of the ideal
RENAISSANCE man: a well-ed-
ucated, skilled soldier and equestrian. Castiglione
describes the perfect courtier’s aspect as sprez-
zatura, loosely meaning “nonchalance”; the
courtier should “practice in all things a certain
sprezzatura . . . and make whatever is done or said
appear to be without effort [or] thought. . . .” In
addition to describing a courtier’s skills and edu-
cation, Castiglione also describes how court ladies
should behave, how courtiers should advise a
prince, and the ideals of platonic love.
The Courtier was translated by Thomas Hoby in
1561. It was extremely influential in determining
proper courtly behavior; writers such as William
SHAKESPEARE and Edmund Spenser drew on it to
describe aspects of court life in their own works.
The Courtier also provides an essential bridge be-
tween the chivalric code of the Middle Ages and
the more politically charged era of the Renais-
sance, adapting many concepts of chivalry into
modes of conduct appropriate to a Renaissance
court. As critics Robert Hanning and David
Rosand explain, Castiglione’s work serves as “a
gauge for so many aspects of Renaissance cul-
ture—from language and literature to art and
Castiglione, Baldessare 45
music, courtiership and politics to humor and
feminism, Neoplatonic idealism to the most cyni-
cal realism.” Castiglione, they say, “stands as the
truest...reflection ofthe...High Renaissance.”
An English Version of a Work by
Baldessare Castiglione
The Book of the Courtier. Translated by Leonard Eck-
stein Opdycke. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover, 2003.
Works about Baldessare Castiglione
Falvo, Joseph D. The Economy of Human Relations:
Castiglione’s Libro del Cortegiano. New York: P.
Lang, 1992.
Hanning, Robert W. Castiglione: The Ideal and the
Real in Renaissance Culture. New Haven, Conn.:
Yale University Press, 1983.
Catherine the Great (Empress Catherine
II of Russia)
(1729–1796) political
philosopher, memoirist, literary dilettante
Catherine was born in Pomerania as Sophia Au-
gusta Fredericka, princess of Anhalt-Zerbst. She
traveled to Russia in 1744, converted to Ortho-
doxy, took the name Ekaterina (Catherine), and
married Peter, who became Peter III in 1761. Less
than six months later, Catherine’s supporters
staged a coup d’etat that left Peter dead and
Catherine on the throne.
During Catherine’s reign, the Russian empire
expanded its power and territories through annex-
ations and war. The government also implemented
legal, educational, and administrative reforms, and
arts and literature flourished. Catherine issued
charters granting rights to nobles and townspeople
(excluding peasants and serfs), and she weathered
a major crisis, the Pugachev Revolt (1773–74). In
the last decade of her reign, the French Revolution
frightened her into imposing stricter censorship
and other controls. Her son Paul succeeded her
after she died of a stroke at age 67.
Catherine read Beccaria,
MONTESQUIEU, Tacitus,
and Plutarch; she also corresponded with VOLTAIRE
and DIDEROT. As empress, she planned to put EN-
LIGHTENMENT thought into practice. In The Anti-
dote (1770), she alludes to her “enlightened” role in
Russia’s legislative reform: “The sovereign, care-
fully gathering from all sides the principles which
most enable men to be happy, herself makes a code
of them and says to her subjects: here are the prin-
ciples which in my opinion can make you happy!”
Besides state documents, Catherine composed
letters, memoirs, journal articles, short stories, and
plays. While her fiction is mediocre, her memoirs
and letters are down-to-earth and engaging. As G.
A. Gukovskii notes, her works “present a picture
of the literary, and even the ideological, battles of
the period.”
See also Gavriil DERZHAVIN; Alexander RAD-
ISHCHEV.
English Versions of Works by
Catherine the Great
Documents of Catherine the Great; The Correspon-
dence with Voltaire and the Instruction of 1767 in
the English Text of 1768. Edited by W. F. Reddaway.
New York: Russell and Russell, 1971.
Memoirs of Catherine the Great. Translated and edited
by Lowell Bair. New York: Bantam, 1957.
Two Comedies by Catherine the Great. Edited and
translated by Lurana Donnels O’Malley. Amster-
dam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1998.
Works about Catherine the Great
Alexander, John T. Catherine the Great: Life and Leg-
end. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.
de Madariaga, Isabel. Catherine the Great: A Short
History. New Haven, Conn. and London: Yale Uni-
versity Press, 2002.
Raeff, Marc, ed. Catherine the Great: A Profile. New
York: Hill and Wang, 1972.
Çelebi, Evliya (Evliya Efendi, “Siyyah”)
(1611–1682) adventurer, historian
Evliya was born in Constantinople, the capital of
the Ottoman Empire. He attended that city’s col-
lege of Hamid Efendi, and while there began to
dream of “traveling over the whole earth . . .” His
46 Catherine the Great