On the Meanings of Bilingualism in Jorge de Montemayor’s «Diana»: the Symbolic Dimension of the Mondego Fields

Abstract

This article discusses the meanings of bilingualism in Jorge de Montemayor’s Diana. This microanalysis aims to demonstrate the centrality of this no­vel within the aesthetic framework of Iberian baroque. In a close reading analysis, the fleeting love story between the two Portuguese shepherds, Duarda and Danteo, located in the last book of the Siete Libros de la Diana, is viewed as a strategic mise en abyme for the construction of a ‘modern’ perspective on the baroque universe of the «libros de pastores», and the consequent transition from bucolic lyricism to bucolic narrative. This will be the central argument for this reflection, anchored on a plural vision of the interconnections between Portugal and Spanish literature in the «Siglo de Oro».