THE NOVELA CORTA AS COMEDIA: LOPE'S

LAS FORTUNAS DE DIANA

FLORENCE IJ. YUDIN
University of Michigan

The tendency of literary genres to overlap and blur formal differences

characterizes many Golden Age works. Without confusing their separate
aims, playwrights and novelists shared many stylistic and structural
principles. 1 Although such interaction encouraged creativity, abuse of its
limits proved to be self-defeating. The latter can be observed in the general
weakness of the novela coria during the period 1615-1640; the former in the
originality of Lope's short fiction.
After the publication of the Novelas ejemplares, the development of
short fiction was stunted by a widely held misconception: 'No hay duda
de que las novelas de Cervantes son las semillas que llevaran al floreci-
miento de la novela del siglo XVII. Pero tampoco la hay de que para sus
contemporaneos e imitadores inmediatos las novelas son comedias
narradas' (Morinigo, 61). The post-Cervantine novelists were partially
correct in stressing the affinities of the N ovelas ejemplares with dramatic
art. Their gross error was to reject the differences. Since they had not
tackled the fundamental problems of composition, no amount of genre
juggling could hide the novelists' confusion. Apart from their ignorance of
what Cervantes had accomplished, writers like Castillo Solorzano, Maria
de Zayas and Perez de Montalban distorted the new form of fiction to
capitalize on the success of the Comedia. This explains the indiscriminate
recasting of their non-novels for the stage. In the process of hybridization,
Cervantes's followers might have reduced the odds of failure if they had at
least substituted a sense of dramatic art for the missing novelistic
principles.
An established playwright who defends the idea that fiction and drama
are close substitutes argues from a less vulnerable position. Lope de Vega
concluded his speculations on the genre of short fiction with this thought:
'Yo he pensado que tienen las nouelas los mismos preceptos que las
comedias, cuyo fin es auer dado su autor contento y gusto al pueblo,

1 Marcos A. Morinigo, 'El teatro como sustituto de la novela en el Siglo XVII', RUB A J

II, Num. i (1957), 41-61; M. A. Cioranescu, 'La nouvelle francaise et la Comedia espagnole
au X'Vl I" siecle', CAlEF, 18 (1966), 79-87. Maria Rosa Lida de Malkiel, La originalidad
artistica de 'La Celestina' (Buenos Aires I962), 50-73, documents the shared techniques of the
Comedia and the novel.
181

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 182 BHS, XLV (1968) FLORENCE L. YUDIN

aunque se ahorque el arte ... '1 Several critics have noted the 'dramatic
features' of Lope's Novelas a la senora Marcia Leonarda, but no one has
questioned seriously the larger implications of his thought in terms of the
individual stories. 2 Unless Lope's statement plays on a false lead, there is
good reason to examine its literal application in the fiction. In its broadest
sense the comparison purports to include both the structure and style of
the novela corta.
Of the four Novelas, Las fortunas de Diana is technically the most
advanced. Lope puts this composition in sharp focus; his prefatory remarks
and intercolunios animate the otherwise conventional story and provide
a thoughtful critique on literary theory and practice. Both the structure
of Las fortunas de Diana and its ironic treatment in the intercolunios will
be examined in the light of Lope's claim that the novela corta is comedia.
The narrative develops from a single enredo. Although there is no explicit
textual division, the plot unfolds in a three-part structure: exposition and
key motives are given in the first section (2-11); complication of the
intriga-obstacles and misfortunes for the separated lovers to overcome-
builds part II (11-22); the inevitable turn of events, made possible by a
disguise and the merits of the protagonists, occupies the final sequence
(23-37). In its bare structural outline, Las fortunas de Diana is a novela de
capa y espada. Whether or not this format has a dramatic function can be
observed in characterization, treatment of theme, and modes of discourse.
The stock descriptions of the principal characters, Diana (2, 4, 8, 12) and
Celio (2, 3, r6), copy the ideals and psychology of their dramatic counter-
parts. Once the model of 'noble lovers' has been suggested, the narrator
can be replaced by the dramatist: at their first glimpse of each other,
Qued6 atras Celio, y poniendo ella los ojos en el, saco todos los desseos
del alma a las colores del rostra ... Celio quanta pudo se llego a ella,
que fue 10 mas que pudo can su turbado atreuimiento, y al passar
Diana le dixo: 'iQue desseada tenia yo esta vista!' (3).
From this point forward, the development and experience of love are also
modelled on dramatic proportions: discretion, declaration, passion; seduc-
tion, separation, despair; faithfulness, reunion, bliss. As in the Comedia,
the intrigue follows a pattern of requisites: family objections to the match

1 La desdicha por la honra in ovelas a la senora Marcia Leonarda, ed. John D. a nd

Leora A. Fitz-Gerald (Erlangen 1913), 38. All subsequent citations from Lope's short novels
refer to this edition.
2 Georges Cirot, 'Valeur Iitteraire des nouvelles de Lope de Vega', BHi, XXVIII (1926),
328; Eduardo Carles Blatt, 'Las novelas ejemplares de Lope', Penix, IV (1935), 559; :rvlarcel
Bataillon, 'La desdicha por la honra: Genesis y sentido de una novela de Lope', NRFH, I
(1947), 14; Candido Ayll6n, 'La novela corta romantica: Cervantes y Lope', CA, XX]II
(1964), 221, 224-25. Recently, Francisco Yndurain, Lope de Vega como nouelador (Santander
1962), 77, described the structural relationship between the novela corta and the Comedia as
a subject still awaiting serious consideration.

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 THE NO VELA CORTA AS CO.l\IEDIA 183

(2, 3, 10, II), which include ties of honour and duty, courtly prelude to
love (3-6), night scenes (6, 8, 12), and the assistance of an unsuspecting
tercera (5).
The treatment of theme in Las fortunas de Diana boldly illustrates the
conversion of dramatic technique for the purposes of fiction. Unlike the
formulism in plot and character, the development of the love motive is
based on direct exchange: cartas de amor, dramatic dialogue and monologue
(3, 4, 5, 9, II, et passim). As a dominant feature of the novel, dramatic
discourse imitates the expressive advantage of the Comedia.' Celio's
'Papel a Diana' is a good example of the dramatic tone Lope sustained in
his novela:
'Hermosissima Diana: No culpes mi atreuimiento, pues todos los dias
ves en tu espejo mi disculpa. Yo no se por que ventura mia vine a
verte; pero te puedo jurar por tus hermosos ojos que antes de verte te
amaua, y que passando par tus puertas se me turbaua el color del
rostra y me dezia el coracon que alli viuia el veneno que auia de
matarme. ~Que hare aora despues que te vi y que me asseguraste de
que agradecias este amor, que, par ser tan justo, esta a peligro de no
ser agradecido?' (4).
It would be difficult to find similar examples of direct language in the
repertory of post-Cervantine novelas comediescas. Using the above citation
as a model, Lope criticizes extravagant diction; he seems to be congratu-
lating himself on his talent for clarity of expression: 'No se puede encarecer
con palabras 10 que sintio de las que [en] esta carta le dixo a los oydos del
alma el enamorado Celio; y assi, contenta y enternecida Diana, mas de
la verdad y llaneza que del artificio del papel, le respondio ... ' (5). At a
later point in the narrative, Diana's initial enthusiasm and love, changed
into confusion by recent events, is vividly captured in stage-like monologue:
'{Ay, vanos contentos, con que verdades os pagays de las mentiras que
nos fingis! [Como engafiays con tan dulces principios para cobrar tan
breues gustos con tan tristes fines! [Ay, Celio! ~Quien pensara que me
engafiaras? Mira 10 que passo por ti, pues he llegado, por auerte
querido, hasta aborrecerme, pues no ay cosa agora mas cansada para
mi que esta vida que tu amauas. Pero bien creo que si me vieras te
lastimara el alma 10 que passo por ti' (I I).
The acting-out technique of this passage contrasts with the typical
narrator omniscience of post-Cervantine fiction; the reader witnesses direct

-Mariano Baquero Goyanes has described a similar use of dramatic discourse in the
works of modern European and American authors: 'Sabre la novela y sus limites', Arbor,
Num. 42 (junio, 1949), 271-83; 'La navela y sus tecnicas', Arbor, Nurn. 54 (junio, 1950),
16 9 - 86 .

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 184 BHS, XLV (1968) FLORENCE L. YUDIN

experience from the character's point of view and he is spared the abuse
of authorial revelation.
The use of song throughout the novel is also pertinent to dramatic style.
Apart from the conventional interpolation of poetry in sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century fiction, Lope incorporates familiar lyrics often as a
structural aid or marker. Whether rendered by strangers (II, 13-15, 19),
improvised by Diana in male disguise (21-22, 23-26, 29-31), or appended
as explanatory material (17-18), love poetry in Las fortunas de Diana
assumes the function of a dramatic, lyric interlude. The lyric interludes
act as brakes on the action in progress and heighten narrative tension.
Structurally, the lyric form condenses and reiterates important motives in
the story (13-15, 21-22). Within this context, interpolated poetry diversi-
fies the style of narration and supports the fictional illusion through
suggestive dramatization.
An analysis of Las fortunas de Diana cannot be confined to the elements
of fiction. It is the complementary role of Lope's intercolunios which gives
this novel its special interest and originality. Author-intrusion in Las
fortunas de Diana may be described as an ironic perspective on the story
in progress and as an early illustration of the self-conscious narrator in
fiction. Lope uses the device to elucidate some of the most basic concerns
of the writer of fiction; he brings his story to an immediate, lively level,
while offering a critical appraisal of important seventeenth-century
literary tenets. The intercolunios are markers for the implied theory and
technique of the work.'
In his prefatory remarks to Las [ortunas de Diana, Lope sets the tone
for subsequent intrusions. He begins with an ironic admission of the 'new'
literary problems to consider:
No he dexado de obedecer a V. m. por ingratitud, sino por temor
de no acertar a seruirla; porque mandarme que escriua vna Nouela
ha sido nouedad para mi, que aunque es verdad que en el Arcadia, y
Peregrino ay alguna parte deste genero y estilo, mas vsado de Italianos
y Franceses que de Espafioles, con todo esso es grande la diferencia y
mas humilde el modo (I).
Pretending to address himself to an authoritative public, Lope stresses the
stylistic difference among the classes of narrative fiction, but then he
formulates a deliberately simplistic comparison: (En tiempo menos

1 Yndurain, Lope de Vega como nouelador (47-48, et passim), contributes perceptive

remarks on the technique of the intercolunios. Lope's participation as character and self-
critic in the non-dramatic works is examined by Michael J. Ruggiero, 'Lope and his Role as
figura del donaire' J R F, LXXVIII (19 66), 66- 89.

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 TI--IE l\TOVELA CORTA AS COMEDIA 185

discreto que el de agora ... llamauan a las Nouelas cuentos' (1).1 Lope
concludes his preface as an insecure theoretician: 'Confiesso que son libros
de grande entretenimiento, y que podrian ser exemplares, como algunas de
las historias tragicas del Vandelo; pero auian de escriuirlos hombres
cientificos ... ' (I). The explanation for this pose becomes clear when we
examine the special presuppositions which the narrator would have his
reader adopt.
Throughout his iniercolunios, Lope acknowledges a literary debt to the
chivalric and Byzantine romances. He compares his nouela corta with
'Esplandianes, Febos, Palmerines, Lisuartes, Floranzbelos, Esferamundos,
y el celebrado Amadis ... ' (I). Later, the narrator claims to have chosen
his techniques on the basis of their appearance and function in the prior
traditions: 'Assi aora en estas dos palabras de Celio y nuestra turbada
Diana se fundan tantos accidentes, tantos amores y peligros que quisiera
ser vn Eliodoro para contarlos, 0 el celebrado autor de la Leucipe y el
enamorado Clitofonte' (4). Similarly, the idea that suspension increases the
reader's pleasure will be explained as a tenet of the Byzantine romance:
'Pues sepa V. m. que muchas vezes haze esto mismo Eliodoro can Teagenes
y otras con Clariquea, para nlayor gusto del que escucha, en la suspension
de 10 que espera' (27).
By underscoring his literary models, Lope singles out one of his basic
assumptions about the novela corta. His references were aptly chosen to
illustrate the dynamic correspondences among literary genres. Just as he
may cite the affinities of Renaissance prose fiction with Las [oriunas de
Diana, a duplicate comparison could be drawn with the Comedia.? When
the Comedia effectively absorbed elements of sixteenth-century fiction it
suppressed the feeble genres and offered a new, all-inclusive substitute for
imaginative fiction:
La apetencia de fuga de la realidad hacia el mundo de la fantasia,
que antes se satisfacia en la novela, encuentra una ancha via en el
teatro ... El teatro espafiol, sobre todo el de Lope y el de sus discipulos
de la primera hora, no pertenece a la literatura del mundo moderno.
Su mundo es todavia el mundo abigarrado y fantastico, bello e irreal
de Amadis, Orlando y Don Tristan' (Morinigo, 'El teatro como
sustituto · .. " 57).

1 It is interesting to note that Cervantes used the terms 'cucnto' and 'historia.' with
considerably more frequency than 'novela"; see Carlos Fernandez Gomez, Vocabulario de
Cervantes (Madrid 1962). The application of the term 'novela.' in the seventeenth century is
amply documented by E. C. Riley, Cervantes's Theory of the Nouel (Oxford 1962)' 'Index of
Topics', 240.
2 Morinigo, 'EI teatro como sustituto de la novela.', 41-57; Eberhard Muller-Bochat,
Lope de Vega und die italienische Dichtung (Wiesbaden 1956), 55-118; Albino Martin Gabriel,
'Heliodoro y la novela espanola: Apuntes para una tesis', Cuadernos de Literatura
Espaiiola, VIII (195 0 ) , 215-34.

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 186 BHS, XLV (1968) FLORENCE L. YUDIN

In his preface, Lope alludes to this pattern of affinities and cleverly

formulates a similar defence of genre-substitution:
Yo, que nunca pense que el nouelar entrara en mi pensamiento, me
veo embaracado entre su gusto de V. m. y mi obediencia; pero, por
no faltar a la obligacion, y porque no parezca negligencia, auiendo
hallado tantas inuenciones para mil Comedias ... seruire a V. m. can
esta ... [italics added] (1-2).
Lope deftly exploits the ambiguity of syntax to confirm his theory of
genres. The deliberate pairing of 'inuenciones'-'esta' with 'Comedias'-
'nouelar' is a succint description of Las fortunas de Diana: 'Since I have
invented so many fictions as drama, I will now follow the same procedure
in the creation of this (prose) Comedia',
In addition to the function of the intercolunios as a preface for the craft
of fiction, Lope exercised narrator prerogative to direct the reader's
attention to specific decisions, technical details, and artistic doubts which
engage the novelist. When he stands apart from his story to examine its
progress, or to comment on alternatives, a wide canvas of literary problems
comes into focus.
Lope's self-awareness as a novelist places his observations on a level
which is closer to the judicial criticism of Cervantes than to the mindless
practice of their contemporaries. The charade of fiction as history was
sufficiently over-played in the seventeenth century to have become
humourless. Yet at the beginning of his tale, Lope calls attention to the
'facts' of fiction: 'Aqui tomare licencia de disfracar sus nombres porque no
sera justa ofender algun respecto can los sucessos y accidentes de su
fortuna' (2). In any other post-Cervantine novela C01'ta there would be little
reason to note this pretence. But for Lope, as well as for Cervantes, a
critical approach to the genre implied contradictory poses. Just as Cer-
vantes had found the authoritative canons of verisimilitude inadequate for
his concept of fiction, Lope also ironically demonstrated their obsolescence.'
He censures these tenets when he intrudes on the fiction to note a dis-
crepancy, or to offer a substitute explanation for improbable events. One
of the chief results of his critical dialogue is to win the reader's in terest in
otherwise mechanical procedures.
The use of disguise, for example, so immediately plausible on the stage,
requires a different approach in the novel. Lope stretches the versatility
of the intercolunios to pose and answer any objections: 'Era Diana bien
hecha y de alto y proporcionado cuerpo; no tenia el rostro afeminado, can
que parecio luego vn hermosa mancebo ... ' (18). With a half-mocking tone,

1 E. C. Riley, Cervantes's Theory, 163-99.

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 THE NO VELA CORTA AS CONIEDIA 187

Lope COD1D1ents on his own use of disguise, giving a verisimilar explanation

(20). Lope was well aware that verisimilitude CIa obligacion del cuento')
could not be achieved by a stroke of authorial adjustment. When the
disguise has proven its efficacy as fiction, Lope again takes up the question
of the narrator's reliability, and he offers a plausible motive for the
prolonged disfraz of his main character:
Pienso, y no deuo de engafiarme, que V. m. me tendra por desalentado
escritor de nouelas, viendo que tanto tiempo he pintado a Diana sin
descubrirse a Celio despues de tantos trabajos y desdichas. Pero
suplico a V. m. me diga, si Diana se declarara y amor ciego se atreuiera
a los braces, ~como llegara este gouernador a Seuilla? (36).
Interestingly, in a later novela, Lope alludes to a more familiar justification
for his procedure: he cites the Comedia as the model from which the
novelist may duplicate this 'illogical', but effective technique: ' ... que
parece de los disfrazes de las comedias, donde a vuelta de cabeca es vn
Principe Lagarto, y vna dama hombre, y fiUy hombre; y a la fee que dize
el vulgo que no Ie hablen en otra lengua' (La desdicha par la honra, 49).
In keeping with his point of view, Lope's editorial advice and moraliza-
tions are also ironical. His opening praise of strict upbringing (2) is reversed
in the course of pleasurable disobedience which follows. Or, after carefully
motivating the action for Celio's seduction scene (5-6), Lope moves back to
a position of ironic observance:
Digame V. m. senora Leonarda, si esto saben hazer y dezir los hombres,
~por que despues infaman la honestidad de las mugeres? Hazenlas
de cera con sus engafios, y quierenlas de piedra con sus desprecios.
~Que auia de hazer Diana en este atreuimiento? 2Era Troya Diana?
~Era Cartago, 0 Numancia? (6).

The humour which colours this moral judgement characterizes Lope's

exemplary intentions. In a similar vein, the author reproaches his stock
characters for behaving according to fixed conventions: 'Si mirassen a estos
fines las donzellas nobles, no darian tan desordenados principios a sus
desdichas' (7). Caution would be self-defeating in a tale whose axis is pre-
cipitous love. As Lope himself pointed out, the [dbu!« was 'vna manera de
libros que parecian historias' (r): a fiction whose lesson might be artistically
exemplary, but not morally SO.l
A final use of the intercolunios in Las fortunas de Diana concerns the
passages in which Lope appears as auto-critic, either to confirm a novelistic
decision, or to recommend an alternative reading. Lope intercepts the

1 For a contrary opinion regarding exemplariness, see Eduardo Carles Blatt, (Las
novelas ejemplares de Lope', 559-70.

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 188 BHS, XLV (1968) FLORENCE L. YUDIN

reader at various points in the novel to underscore his deliberate imitation

of literary models: 'Pareceme que le va pareciendo a V. m. este discurso
mas libro de pastor que nouela, pues cierto que he pensado que no por esso
perdera el gusto el sucesso, ni que puede tener cosa mas agradable que su
imitacion' (22). This kind of intervention gives the narrator ironic latitude
in which to note the inconsistencies of his composition. At another point,
the intercolunios draw attention to an expository technique borrowed from
the Comedia: '... le conto quien era, 10 que Ie auia sucedido, y 10 que
buscaua, ala traca que suelen ser las narraciones de las comedias ...' (28).
Other authorial intrusions tend to delay the course of action while recom-
mending attitudes for a more 'satisfactory' reading: 'EI mancebo . . .
comenco a cantar assi; y V. m. senora Leonarda, si tiene mas desseo de
saber las fortunas de Diana que de oyr cantar a Fabio, podra passar los
versos deste romance sin leerlos . . .' (13). Lope relies on the intercolunios
to win the reader's complicity and to direct his attention to some of the
artistic concerns outside of fiction which make an intelligent weave in the
texture of fantasy.
Within the larger dramatic design of Las fortunas de Diana, the inter-
colunios may be described as vivid markers for theatrical technique. Lope
chose to construct his fiction from the point of view of autor, presenting his
composition to an audience. Yndurain argues for this interpretation when
he comments on the effectiveness of Lope's active participation within the
novel: '~No es el soberano talento de un dramaturgo de naturaleza y de
profesion?' (Lope de Vega como novelador, 54). The intercolunios provide a
revised perspective on the fiction, undermining the very conventions which
the author tacitly adopts. This technique challenges the alleged exemplari-
ness and verisimilitude of seventeenth-century fiction and offers an ironic
alternative: the substitution of the dramatist's voice for the novelist's
presence; the formula of the Comedia for the failure of the novela corta.

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