Studia Litterarum (Mar 2024)
The Fate of Spanish Folk Genres in the New World
Abstract
The article shows what transformation three Spanish folklore genres, transferred to the New World by streams of conquistadors and emigrants (romance, copla, and décima), underwent. The traditional Spanish monorim romance is virtually extinct; strophic novelistic romance remained latent for almost three centuries until it gave rise to the growth of Creole romance in the 19th century. The article considers the features of this genre, which are generally determined by its lyrical-epic nature, in contrast to the Spanish romance. The most productive and viable in the New World was copla, the most widespread form of the so-called “arte menor,” the art of small poetic forms. It has not changed at all formally. However, being an improvisational genre, especially susceptible to variability, it has accumulated new substantive elements. Based on a comparison of Spanish and American variants, the article demonstrates the processes of targeted variability and desymbolization and pays special attention to the formation of machista motifs. Décima, a complex stanza born in the bosom of Spanish literature, existed for a very short time in Spanish folklore. In the New World, it reappeared as a folklore genre, became an improvisation tool, applicable in competitions of folk poets, and significantly expanded its themes.
Keywords
