Fernando de Rojas and <i>La Celestina</i> through historical fiction: authorship and Jewish descent

Abstract

In this paper I analyze several historical novels published after 1990 in which the main character is Fernando de Rojas. The goal is to ascertain the kind of subjects related to Celestina and its supposed author present in these works. Most of them follow the theory of Celestina’s doble authorship, widely accepted today. We can also find in these novels a more controversial theory, according to which Rojas would be a direct descendant from a prisoner sentenced to death. The presence of this theory in historical novels could be explained not only by the influence of the works of Stephen Gilman, but also of the reception of the work from the 20th century on, both because of the relevance that the inquisitorial element acquires and the more critical reading of the Tragicomedy and the superposition of the imaginary of the historical narrative.

Keywords

• fernando de rojas
• la celestina
• inquisición
• doble autoría
• novela histórica