UNDERSTANDING TRANSATLANTIC CULTURAL MOBILITY: FOR A CROSS-READING OF FITÓN IN CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA’S EL LAUREL DE APOLO AND ALONSO DE ERCILLA’S LA ARAUCANA
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2022
Abstract
This essay focuses on the intertextual origins and depiction of Fitón in Calderón de la Barca’s play El laurel de Apolo. After contrasting Calderón’s depiction of Fitón with those in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Alonso de Ercilla’s La Araucana, I demonstrate the special signif icance Calderón’s variations on the classical myth of Fitón acquires when considered within the context of the intersection of Early Modern Spanish literature, history, arts, and politics. Here, I argue that Calderón’s recasting of Fitón serves as propaganda, the origins of which can be found in the four Titian paintings commissioned by María de Hungría in 1548. These paintings, like Calderón’s Fitón, served as warnings to those who challenged established authority. The essay concludes by examining the transatlantic cultural mobility of Calderón’s conception of Fitón, which enables the playwright to both reinforce the authority of Philip IV and comment on the myth and mythmaking of his Privado, or prime minister, the Count-Duke Olivares.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Anuario Calderoniano
First Page
401
Last Page
428
Recommended Citation
Mattza, C. (2022). UNDERSTANDING TRANSATLANTIC CULTURAL MOBILITY: FOR A CROSS-READING OF FITÓN IN CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA’S EL LAUREL DE APOLO AND ALONSO DE ERCILLA’S LA ARAUCANA. Anuario Calderoniano, 15, 401-428. Retrieved from https://repository.lsu.edu/fll_pubs/161