Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Periandro/Persiles: Las raíces clásicas del personaje y la aportación de Cervantes

1995; Cervantes Society of America; Volume: 15; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.3138/cervantes.15.1.060

1943-3840

Antonio Cruz Casado,

Spanish Literature and Culture Studies

When he set out to compete with the classic Heliodorus in writing Persiles y Sigismunda, Cervantes used as his point of departure the narrative scheme of the old Greek novel, which had been popular in humanistic circles since the mid-sixteenth century. The traits of Cervantes’ character do not merely reproduce those of the protagonist of the Greek/Byzantine narrative, but introduce some aspects that were latent in the ancient hero. Though not a completely original creation, Periando embodies specifically Cervantine characteristics, while at the same time he is transformed into the appropriate hero for the Counter-Reformation.