El didactismo textual en la transición de la Edad Media al Renacimientorecursos carnavalescos en El libro del Buen Amor

Resumen

This article explores The Book of Good Love by the Arcipreste de Hita from an educational standpoint. The work of the Arcipreste reproduces the social changes that are taking place during the transitional period between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. During this time the bases of a new social group, the bourgeoisie, are being established. In the educational system, the Church still has a prominent role, but at this time new urban schools are appearing, with a less religious focus. Naturally, this emerging bourgeois class is still little refined and lacks didactic resources, therefore it must make use of the existing religious texts in combination with profane ones in order to build the corpus of the new educational paradigm. Focusing on the allegorical episode which describes the battle between Don Carnal and Doña Cuaresma, I consider the carnavalesque essence of The Book of Good Love through Mijaíl Mijáilovich Bajtín´s theoretical perspectives. Hence, I will explore how through the representation of the carnival the Arcipreste aims to carry out the ex contrario teaching model to which he refers to in the prologue of his work, and making use of contrapositions and ambiguities he fulfils his moral teaching aim.