Acceso usuarios
Rosa María Stoops
Tradicionalmente, los autores se esmeran en la creación del prólogo para explicar la obra y sus posiciones artísticas y filosóficas. Los prólogos de François Rabelais y de Miguel de Cervantes para Gargantua y a las Novelas ejemplares, respectivamente, contienen numerosas imágenes y lenguaje que revelan un conocimiento profundo de los temas esotéricos representativos del ambiente intelectual y filosófico del Renacimiento, especialmente la alquimia y el hermetismo. A través de imágenes, ejemplos y recomendaciones precisas, Rabelais y Cervantes instruyen al lector a desconfiar de impresiones engañosas y efectuar una lectura cuidadosa que es esencial para descubrir los misterios escondidos entre líneas
In addition to similarities in language and images, scholars have addressed other creative points of contact between the works of François Rabelais and Miguel de Cervantes, including their common penchant for humorous and realistic expression.1 This study explores further points of contact in the creative processes of Rabelais and Cervantes summarized in the prologues of Gargantua and the Novelas ejemplares which can be associated with Hermetic and alchemical principles, in view of the well documented presence of esoteric knowledge in the intellectual and philosophical environment during their lifetime.2 That Rabelais and Cervantes were interested in Hermeticism and the alchemical processes of transformation and used their knowledge as structural resources for their works can be substantiated through textual analysis.3 Clearly, both authors were deliberate in incorporating Hermetic and alchemical content in their works. Cognizant of the customs associated with these philosophical and spiritual practices, in their prologues they announce the presence of hidden mysteries and concentrate their efforts in attracting the attention of readers who might be interested in the discovery of those mysteries because they promise spiritual and intellectual rewards.4 In the prologues of reference, Rabelais and Cervantes reveal, in the first place, their understanding of the complex relation between the traditional forms of creating literature that emanated from the classical tradition, notably the Aristotelian principle of eutrapelia that regulated the social and spiritual importance of honest entertainment appreciated in literary works; 5 second, their embrace of the classical exemplum as a rhetorical form of narration, which they used throughout their work; and finally, both authors seek to expand these rhetorical concepts to reveal the processes through which literature can become a pathway for personal transformation.6 In terms of the value of their work as entertainment, Rabelais concedes that human artistic creations possess naturally the quality of being enjoyable, but then condemns thoughtless readers as cheerful, idle fools who read no further than the title of books of invention such as Gargantua and Pantagruel and assume that there is nothing inside except jests, idiocies, and amusing fictions: [V]ous mes bons disciples, & quelques autres fols de séjour, lisant les joyeux titres d'aucuns livres de notre invention, comme Gargantua, Pantagruel, Fessepinthe, La dignité des braguettes, Des pois au lard cum commento, etc, jugez trop facilement n'etre au-dedans traite que mocqueries, folateries, & menteries joyeuses. [...] In both prologues the authors are mindful of the utilization of the exemplum as a rhetorical necessity prescribed by the classical tradition; thus, Rabelais offers three significant examples that become central to a Hermetic/alchemical interpretation: the small and eccentric Silene boxes; the portrait of Socrates; and the description of a dog who patiently licks a bone until it becomes brittle and breaks, rewarding the animal with the nourishment of the precious marrow. (769) 7 As indicated by Ignacio Arellano Torres, the inclusion of rhetorical portraits in works of literature constitutes a classical stylistic element that aims at affirming the qualities of the subject represented for posterity (59); thus, in the rhetorical portrait of Socrates and in his own description, Rabelais and Cervantes trace the necessary correspondence of the soul, which is eternal and essential, with the body (60), but go beyond these expectations to make the more important point that wisdom and knowledge cannot be recognized at first glance, especially when the subject of the portrait is humble.
