De bachilleres y graduados: Alonso de Castillo Solórzano y la novela académica en el contexto del campo literario

Abstract

The work of Castillo Solórzano, an author who emerged within the context of the academies, is marked by the influence of this eminent institution of the Spanish Golden Age culture in such a way that much of his novelistic production is related to in the subgenre of the academic novel. With a view to reviewing this overly restrictive concept, the present contribution is devoted to three significant works —«El culto graduado» (1625), the Huerta de Valencia (1629) and El Bachiller Trapaza (1637)— focusing on the following aspects: the relevance of the professions performed by the learned characters; the situation of the incipient professional writer; the relevance of mockery (‘burla’) as a link between the academic novel and the picaresque novel; and, finally, the notion of ‘culto’ that is discussed in each of these works. The results of this analysis allow us to understand in further detail the thematic between Castillo Solórzano's novels and the literary field of his time.

Keywords

• academic novel
• learned word
• professional writer
• literary field
• Castillo Solórzano Alonso de