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La Celestina

Fernando de Rojas

1964142 pagesabout 2–3 hours
1964
first published
  • 1964Penguin · 248 pages · ENG
  • 1966New York University Press · 247 pages · ENG
  • 1968French & European PubnsISBN 9780828815826
  • 1969Las Americas Pub. Co. · 235 pages · ENG
  • 1973Folio Society · 205 pages · ENG
  • 1973The Folio Society · 206 pages · ENGISBN 9780850670653
  • 1998Grupo Editorial Norma · 344 pagesISBN 9789580446101
  • Haranburu Editor · 142 pagesISBN 9788474071719

Celestina is the most remarkable work produced in 15th century Spain and its influence has been enduring and profound. It is a prose dialogue divided into 21 'acts', starting in comedy and ending in tragedy. The story tells of a bachelor, Calisto, who uses the old procuress Celestina to start an affair with Melibea, an unmarried girl kept in seclusion by her parents. Though the two use the rhetoric of courtly love, sex - not marriage - is their aim. When he dies in an accident, Melibea commits suicide after confessing to her father.

How it reads

ComplexityLayered

When and where

ThemesMorality
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