Abstraction, Anthropomorphism and Hyperbole: Reality versus Fantasy in the Portrayal of Creatures and Beasts in Medieval Adventure Texts
In this paper, I first present information on the environmental realities of the Medieval Castilian terrain. The focus is on specific animal life forms that were present in the Iberian Peninsula, but the temporal and physical relationship between the environment and the living beings is also established. This extant knowledge of animals and their interaction within the environment will then be opposed to the fabricated literary representations that various medieval authors employed in their works. Reasons for the diverse choices of stylized, iconic and anthropomorphic creatures by the authors will be postulated.
Don Juan Manuel’s Libro de la caça (Cinco tratados) and the Libro de montería (anonymous) are used to establish data for a rational assessment wildlife in Medieval Castile. Afterwards, the fictionalized wildlife (as represented in the adventure works) will be examined with an ecocriticism-based approach in order to postulate possible reasons for the distorted and idealized renditions of wildlife. To represent the adventure literature, my working papers currently include the Cantar de mio Cid (anonymous), El libro de buen amor (Juan Ruiz) and Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos (Gonzalo de Berceo).
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