Mockers and mocked in Spanish medieval exemplary literature

Abstract

This article presents a brief account of comical motifs that appear in some medieval exempla collections, for instance the Disciplina clericalis and Conde Lucanor, with and approximation to a hybrid work, as Libro de Buen amor, by the Arcipreste de Hita. Tge purpose of these writings was to teach and moralize audiences and this is a notable from the very introduction on. However, authors or compilers never include in their preliminaries that the purpose of their writings is to amuse, make their readers laugh, reinterpret or decontextualize the world. The main objective of this investigation is to direct the analysis of exemplary works toward revealing their amusing or even comical side. Central to this study is a conceptual structure of the laughter phenomenon that has come forward from theoretical works by well-known authors such as Aristotle. Bergson, Ducrot and others. The subject matter is to emphasize the universality of the comical vein in the aforesaid writings, which has lasted up to the present.