Brill Voicing Dissent in Seventeenth-Century Spain: Inquisition, Social Criticism and Theology in the Case of "El Criticn" (Medieval and Early Modern Iberian World): 37

This book combines archival and rare book research with a case study of the fiction of Baltasar Gracián to investigate the degree to which the Spanish elite circumvented Inquisitorial and state publication controls in early modern Spain. From the Back Cover Although the Spanish Inquisition looms large in many conceptions of the early modern Hispanic world, relatively few studies have been made of the Spanish state and Inquisition s approach to book censorship in the seventeenth century. Merging archival and rare book research with a case study of the fiction of Baltasar Graci n, this book argues that privileged authors, like the Jesuit Graci n, circumvented publication strictures that were meant to ensure that printed materials conformed to the standards of Catholicism and supported the goals of the absolute monarchy. In contrast to some elite authors who composed readily transparent critiques of authorities and encountered difficulties with the state and Inquisition, others, like Graci n, made their criticisms covertly in complicated texts like "El Critic n." About the Author Patricia W. Manning (Ph.D., Yale University, 2000) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Kansas. She has published articles on a number of topics in seventeenth-century Spanish literature and culture.