Fernando de Rojas
c. 1465–1541 · Spain
“In this, Melibea, I see the greatness of God.”
Peak-work percentile in the canon.
The lineage through Fernando de Rojas
Inspired(1)
who Fernando de Rojas shaped
via Don Quixote
- Cervantes singled out Celestina by name in the opening verses of Don Quixote
- He called it "a book, in my opinion, divine — if it concealed more of the human" — admiration with a needle in it
- A whole scholarly line ("Cervantes as a reader of Celestina") traces how de Rojas's tragicomedy worked on him
Famous Quotes
“When one door closes, fortune will usually open another.”
“No one is so old that he cannot live yet another year, nor so young that he cannot die today.”
“The first step towards madness is to think oneself wise.”
“In this world there are no true friends. Fortune rules, and fortune is blind.”
About Fernando de Rojas
Spanish author of converso Jewish background, best known for La Celestina (1499), a dramatic novel in dialogue form about a tragic love affair facilitated by a cunning go-between. The work bridges medieval and Renaissance literature and is considered one of the greatest works of Spanish literature after Don Quixote.