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Labyrinth of Fortune

Juan de Mena
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A01=Juan de Mena
allegorical narrative
allegorical poetry
Author_Juan de Mena
castilian literature
Category=DCA
Category=DCF
Category=DS
Category=NHD
cervantes
christian reconquest
dantesque literature
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_poetry
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Product details

  • ISBN 9780674290914
  • Weight: 442g
  • Dimensions: 133 x 203mm
  • Publication Date: 06 May 2025
  • Publisher: Harvard University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
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Description

A classic, Dantesque political epic from medieval Spain that inspired Cervantes and Góngora, in its first English translation.

Why do the injustices of the past still afflict the present? With this question, Juan de Mena is transported to heaven by a vision in the Dantesque The Labyrinth of Fortune. Composed in 1444 by Mena, a royal chronicler and Latin secretary in the court of Juan II of Castile, El Laberinto de Fortuna became the most important political allegory of medieval Spain. Allegorizing the past, present, and unknowable future through the figure of Providence, the poem reflects on the contentious kingship of Juan II and frames the Reconquest of Moorish territories—the foundational mythos of the emerging nation—as a virtuous, sacred task that would restore justice and the moral order because it fulfills a destiny ordained by God. This is the first English translation of a masterpiece that enriched the Spanish language with a density of learned allusions and a new Latinate humanistic style that deeply influenced subsequent writers such as Miguel Cervantes and Luis de Góngora.
About Juan de Mena
Frank A. Domínguez is Professor Emeritus of Spanish at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ryan D. Giles is Professor of Spanish at Indiana University, Bloomington.

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