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Tuesday, October 02, 2018

Tirant lo Blanc (1490) by Joanot Martorell


Book Review
Tirant lo Blanc (1490)
 by Joanot Martorell

Replaces:  Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) by John Lyly (Review August 2018)

  Any replacement would be an improvement on Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit, by 16th century English writer John Lyly. Euphues borders on being the most incomprehensible of all the books on the 1001 Books list.  I suspect that is because most of the 15th and 16th century cultural reference points that Lyly uses are opaque to any modern reader who doesn't possess a classics degree from Oxford University.  A reader would need to take a class to "get" Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit, and that is a strong argument as to why it shouldn't have made the original list.

  Tirant lo Blanc, on the other hand, is a good natured romp- written by a regional Spanish author- highly popular in its time and deeply influential on Miguel de Cervantes when he wrote the first book of Don Quixote. Tirant lo Blanc has other factors going for it: exotic locations, intricate battles and a decent love story.  The characters aren't quite modern but they also aren't the cardboard cut outs of your typical chivalric tales.   Tirant lo Blanc is about the knight of that name, who becomes embroiled in a convoluted series of battles between the Byzantine Empire and the Turks, which takes him to Africa and back to Europe, fighting and winning battles, both on land and sea, and often overcoming ridiculous odds.

  Like Quixote, Tirant lo Blanc is long, though not as long as Quixote itself, with its two volumes.  Unlike Quixote, there is nothing self-reflexive or meta-fictional about Tirant lo Blanc- he is just a knight who single handedly saves the Byzantine Empire.

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