Abstract

Giulia Poggi denies, in a recent study, that «De pura honestidad templo sagrado» describes the small sculpture of the Virgin of Villaviciosa in the Cathedral-Mosque of Córdoba, as suggested by me in 2010, and insists in the supposedly amatory character of the sonnet. In the following pages I demonstrate that neither of the two main arguments adduced by Poggi, a restrictive view of intertextuality, and an arbitrary summary of Pineda’s censorship comments, allow us to decide the point. Lastly, I indicate the comprehension mistakes of some lines of the sonnet by the Italian critic, which have led her astray; and I add some new factual information, related in part to Góngora’s converso condition, recently demonstrated, which strengthen the views that Poggi attempts to deny.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship, from an intertextual  perspective, between Las travesuras de la niña mala by Mario Vargas Llosa (2006), and the picaresque genre developed in Spain during the 16th and 17th century. In order to achieve this aim, I will take into account the filiation discourse and the appearance of the picaresque canon, as well as the female picaresque works ignored by the critics. Vargas Llosa draws the character of the «niña mala» gathering charateristics which belong both to male and female picaro.