Feijoo, entre la «discreta» y la «violenta» sátira

Abstract

Benito Jerónimo Feijoo showed in his writings an ambiguous position regarding to satire as a genre. In his essays, he often criticized the writing of satires and only accepted it on very concrete occasions. Given that it seemed to him that the satirical genre was an appropriate rhetorical modality for the «desengaño de errores comunes», his essays use the «soft» satire. It can be observed when he translates the different anecdotes of the Menagiana, because he adapts the original jokes according to his own poetics. However, in his work not meant to be published, especially poetics, he wrote various «violent» satires, in which the codes defended in Teatro crítico and Cartas eruditas are completely subverted. Specifically, we look at the romance Descubrimiento del autor de un entremés satírico que salió en la corte de Oviedo contra el autor, and we propose the identification of which text he is responding to, an issue that has been studied by some specialists who have not given a clear answer yet.

Keywords

• feijoo
• satire
• poetry
• polemics
• poetics