Unit 3: El siglo XVII

Siglo de Oro

Spain’s “Golden Age” (roughly the 16th–17th centuries), marked by extraordinary artistic and literary production.

17th-century paradox (Spain)

A period of cultural flourishing during political and economic crisis; this contradiction becomes a key engine of Baroque literature.

Habsburg Spain (Austrias)

The Habsburg dynasty ruling Spain in the 17th century (Felipe III, Felipe IV, Carlos II), associated with imperial strain and decline.

Thirty Years’ War

A major costly European conflict (1618–1648) that contributed to Spain’s financial and political burdens in the 17th century.

Imperial decline

The gradual weakening of Spain’s global power in the 17th century, alongside economic difficulties and expensive wars.

Counter-Reformation

A Catholic movement reinforcing orthodoxy; in Spain it increased devotion, ideological vigilance, and pressure against “heretical” ideas.

Censorship (Baroque context)

Institutional control over ideas and texts, intensified by the Counter-Reformation to protect Catholic orthodoxy.

Desengaño

A key Baroque mood: the process of realizing that what seems solid (honor, beauty, power, glory) is fragile or illusory.

Honra/Honor (public reputation)

Social “credit” based on how others see you; in Golden Age literature, characters often act to protect reputation more than private feelings.

Limpieza de sangre

An obsession with “pure” Christian lineage (cristianos viejos) used to police social status and belonging.

Baroque (literary movement)

A 17th-century aesthetic that represents an unstable world through complex, tense language and structures that force interpretation.

Appearance vs. reality

A central Baroque tension: the suspicion that surfaces mislead and that truth is difficult to access directly.

Life as theater (metaphor)

A Baroque idea that social roles and appearances can be performances, raising questions about truth, identity, and ethics.

Life as dream (metaphor)

A Baroque motif suggesting perception is fragile; it pushes characters/readers toward moral self-control despite uncertainty.

Carpe diem

“Seize the day”: a theme urging enjoyment or action in the present because time and youth are fleeting.

Memento mori

“Remember you will die”: a reminder of mortality that intensifies Baroque urgency and undermines worldly pride.

Baroque contrast/paradox

A technique and worldview built on opposites (life/death, beauty/decay, dream/reality) to resist simple interpretations.

Hyperbaton

A Baroque syntactic inversion that disrupts normal word order, making reading an act of reconstruction and “decoding.”

Conceptismo

A Baroque style (linked to Quevedo) marked by conceptual density, wit, wordplay, and double meanings; difficulty comes from ideas.

Culteranismo

A Baroque style (linked to Góngora) using ornate diction, heavy hyperbaton, mythological allusions, and neologisms; difficulty comes from form and syntax.

Francisco de Quevedo

Major Baroque author associated with conceptismo; known for sharp social critique and works like the picaresque novel El Buscón.

Luis de Góngora

Major Baroque poet associated with culteranismo; known for brilliant sensory imagery and complex syntax.

“Mientras por competir con tu cabello”

Góngora’s sonnet that seduces with idealized beauty and then collapses into memento mori (“tierra, humo, polvo, sombra, nada”), producing desengaño.

“Miré los muros de la patria mía”

Quevedo’s sonnet of decline that moves from national ruin to personal decay, presenting time as a force that corrodes both empires and bodies.

Sonnet (14-line form)

A 14-line poem (often two quatrains and two tercets) that often functions like a mini-argument: setup, then a concluding “turn.”

Picaresque novel

A satirical narrative genre about a clever, low-born, morally ambiguous protagonist surviving in a corrupt society.

Lazarillo de Tormes

Foundational 16th-century picaresque work (antecedent) that shapes later 17th-century satirical social critique.

El Buscón

Quevedo’s picaresque novel that uses satire to attack hypocrisy, corruption, and social pretension.

Miguel de Cervantes

Key 17th-century author; Don Quijote is considered foundational to the modern novel for its layered reality and narrative experimentation.

Don Quijote de la Mancha

Cervantes’s novel that parodies chivalric romances while exploring how stories shape identity and how reality is interpreted through competing perspectives.

Metafiction

A technique in Don Quijote where the text draws attention to itself as constructed (narrators, “sources” like Cide Hamete Benengeli), complicating truth.

Perspectivism

The idea that events don’t have a single stable meaning; interpretation depends on who narrates/observes—fitting the Baroque suspicion of certainty.

La vida es sueño

Calderón’s drama using the dream/reality metaphor to debate destiny vs. free will and to argue for ethical self-mastery amid uncertainty.

Sancho Panza

Don Quijote’s companion who negotiates between practical common sense and the appeal of Quixotic ideals, creating a dialogue about reality and dignity.

New Spain (Virreinato de Nueva España)

Colonial Mexico in the 17th century; a major site of Baroque cultural production shaped by colonial institutions and race/class tensions.

Transatlantic Baroque

The view that Baroque is not only Spanish (peninsular) but also travels and adapts across the empire, especially in New Spain.

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

Central New Spanish Baroque writer whose work combines Baroque style with colonial reality and arguments about gender, authority, and knowledge.

“Hombres necios que acusáis”

Sor Juana’s satirical poem exposing patriarchal double standards through sharp logic, repetition, and direct confrontation.

“Respuesta a Sor Filotea de la Cruz”

Sor Juana’s prose defense of women’s intellectual life, using erudition and careful strategy to negotiate ecclesiastical authority.

Rhetorical humility

A persuasive strategy (notably in Sor Juana’s Respuesta): adopting an obedient, modest tone on the surface while advancing a bold argument underneath.

Comedia Nueva

The dominant Golden Age theater model (linked to Lope de Vega) that breaks strict classical rules, mixes tragic and comic elements, and aims for popular impact.

Gracioso

A comedic “stock” character in Golden Age theater who comments on action and can voice truths other characters cannot safely say.

Lope de Vega

Revolutionary Spanish dramatist who shaped the Comedia Nueva and wrote major plays such as Fuenteovejuna.

Arte nuevo de hacer comedias

Lope de Vega’s treatise explaining his dramatic principles: flexible rules, fast-moving plots, and writing for a broad audience.

Fuenteovejuna

Lope de Vega’s play about collective resistance to a corrupt local authority; explores honor, abuse of power, and the role of the monarchy in restoring order.

Collective justice (Fuenteovejuna)

The town acts as one (“Fuenteovejuna did it”), protecting individuals and asserting communal honor while still seeking royal legitimacy at the end.

Tirso de Molina

Golden Age dramatist associated with El burlador de Sevilla, a play about seduction, abuse of power, and inevitable moral reckoning.

El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra

A play featuring Don Juan’s deceptions and the “stone guest” as supernatural punishment, warning that apparent impunity ends in judgment.

Don Juan

The libertine seducer archetype who exploits social and gender power; the Baroque tradition exposes his superficial charm and enforces consequences.

Calderón de la Barca

Baroque playwright known for complex symbolism and philosophical drama (e.g., La vida es sueño), focusing on ethics, perception, and free will.