Cristofol Despuig: Dialogues

Renaissance dialogues from C16th Catalonia, in which three speakers elegantly discuss politics, society and the Church.

Dialogue is one of the Classical genres reclaimed by the Renaissance, which turns it into a hallmark of the period. In the Catalan-speaking world nearly forty dialogues were written in the course of the Renaissance. Despuig's Dialogues, written in 1557, stand out from the rest by the extent to which they incorporate the most innovative aspects of the genre: the dramatisation of Renaissance multiple perspectives and the consistency of the fictional plot that provides a structure for the ideas.
The Dialogues offer a critical review of a host of issues that were topical at the time. The three speakers in the work - Livio, the knight from Tortosa; Fabio, the gentleman from Tortosa; and Don Pedro, the knight from Valencia - elegantly exchange their subtly contrasting views regarding politics, society and the Church as they stroll through the streets of the city Tortosa and sail along the Ebro.The main features of the dialogue, which typify the revival of the genre in the Renaissance, lie in the way it expresses differing opinions, creates multiple perspectives and constructs a consistent plot that imitates a spontaneous conversation whilst providing a structure for the speakers' reflections. Both the ways in which it articulates the discussion and the specific ideas that it allocates to its speakers make Despuig's Dialogues a text thatexemplifies the Renaissance in Catalonia.

Published in association with Editorial Barcino, Barcelona.