Celestina
Rojas wrote what a lot of people call the first European novel, a tragicomedy about a go-between, two lovers, and the wreckage desire leaves behind.
Read this if you…
- want a dirty fun low-brow short novel
- want the most famous spanish book written before quixote (and I like it better)
Skip this if you…
- don't like degenerate/sexual content (prostitutes and brothels and such)
- want a good guy to root for
Why It Matters
Rojas wrote what a lot of people call the first European novel, a tragicomedy about a go-between, two lovers, and the wreckage desire leaves behind. Its cynical, darkly funny read on why people do what they do was centuries ahead of its time. It bridged medieval and Renaissance literature in Spain and fed straight into Cervantes.
The 
Take
Super short funny and tragic. Celestina some character as is sempronio and parmeno, as is areusa and elissa. I guess the main love story was kind of dumb, but I feel it was really about all the side characters being schemers.Random great philosophical rants as well
Where to go next
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. Celestina shaped it. - 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
Depicted in Art
A young maja in white-and-gold leans flirtatiously over a balcony rail; the old Celestina sits behind her clutching a rosary, watching the street.
Francisco de Goya, 1812
Four young prostitutes asleep on the benches of a third-class railway carriage; their Celestina sits awake in shadow, watching with half-open eyes.
Joaquín Sorolla, 1895
Full-length portrait of an old Celestina figure, hooded and weathered, painted in muted tones against a darkened ground.
Fernando Alberti Barceló, 1908
Engraved title page of the Plantin Press 1599 edition showing the central characters posed in a frontispiece arrangement.
1599
Four ambiguous figures on a stone step — a young woman, a boy, a man, and an older woman in headscarf and glasses widely read as the Celestina procuress.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, 1660
Recommended Editions
Peter Bush
Penguin Classics · 2009
Bush keeps the bawdy and the tragic running side by side, which is how Celestina actually moves. Celestina herself stays dangerous in his English, and the intro is sharp on the authorship puzzle.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“In this, Melibea, I see the greatness of God.”
“When one door closes, fortune will usually open another.”