| Commentary: |
Snow 2007: "B.'s main idea is that Alfonso favored caricaturesque depiction in the presentation of certain social types in his CSM in order to be funny, to mock, to effect laughter (for the viewer?). For discussion here, B. selected CSM 186 (the Moor burlesqued), 6 (the Jew), 318 (the evil cleric), 317 (the malefactor), 57 (the thief), 306 (the heretic), and 219 and 72 (the devil). What the author has still to prove is that Alfonso is any more responsible for the depiction of traditional enemies of Heaven than he is for the texts in which they circulated — also, in large part, in traditions of either oral or written kind. In the instance of ‘prejudice’ against thieves, malefactors, etc., nothing strange or surprising is revealed: the unusual note is that they should be included in a mixed bag of tales of ‘prejudice’ alongside the very different accusation of racial recriminations." |
