In this series of four lectures, we will delve into the literary world of the Spanish Golden Age, understood as a transatlantic phenomenon. We will begin with Garcilaso de la Vega, whose poetry reveals an idealised vision of women, but not of love, anticipating Romantic subjectivism. Next, we will discuss Cervantes’ short novel “The Jealous Extremaduran”, where female characters like Leonora and Guiomar challenge early modern norms regarding honour. We will then explore La Florida by El Inca Garcilaso, which presents a sublimated view of the indigenous woman in the context of the conquest of the Americas. Finally, we will analyse El carnero by Rodríguez Freyle, which introduces an extraordinary character, Juana García, a black Celestina. These four talks will allow us to explore the diversity of male perspectives on women during a period marked by creative imitation.

Third lecture

In the early 17th century, the Lisbon printing house of Pedro Craesbeeck published La Florida, a chronicle about the failed expedition of Hernando de Soto to the north-eastern region of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. In the prologue, El Inca Garcilaso (1539–1616) claims to have drawn on the testimony of a veteran conquistador. Writing La Florida (1605) took him about twenty years. Despite his tendency to idealise the conquest, Garcilaso was aware of the injustices suffered by Native Americans. This awareness is reflected in his mention of his mother in the second sentence of the “Prologue to the Reader” in La Florida. His work presents an ennobling image of indigenous women. While exalting the conquistadors is common in chronicles, the elevation of indigenous figures—especially women—is far less so. By idealizing both groups equally, Garcilaso bridges these two worlds. This lecture will explore these idealized encounters, focusing in particular on the representation of indigenous women.

Luis Castellví Laukamp is a Senior Lecturer in Spanish Cultural Studies at the University of Manchester. His teaching and research interests range widely but mainly focus on the literatures and cultures of early modern Spain, Latin America and the Philippines. Central to his academic work are the theories and practices of poetic influence and transmission of culture in the early modern Hispanic world. He previously taught as an Affiliated Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, where he earned his PhD, and was a Humboldt postdoctoral scholar at Heidelberg University. Author of Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis (2020), which has been translated into Spanish. Anchored in the emerging field of Pacific Rim Studies, his current research is devoted to the first Spanish chronicles written in Asia.