Montemayor - diana, spanish, novel, literature and enamorada

MONTEMAYOR, Monte mor Jorge, Spanish-Portuguese poet and novel ist: b. about 1520; d. 1561. His real name was Montemor, but it assumed the Spanish form Montemayor in Spain. There is little definitely known of the life of Montemayor. He was one of the poet musicians of his day who found refuge and welcome at the Spanish court where he was already on familiar terms in 1548. Six years later he accompanied Juana, the Infanta, to Lisbon where she was to be married to Dom Togo. He seems to have visited England and Holland with Philip II, and he may have been to Paris. He was assassinated in 1561. His most famous work is a pastoral hovel entitled 'Diana Enamorada' (Madrid, between 1545 and 1559). Inflated in style, artificial in its depict ing of character, indifferent in poetical value yet, as Cervantes had said, "it has the honor of being the first of the books of its class." Partly in verse and partly in prose, the latter is much the superior. The 'Diana' is written principally in Spanish, but it contains songs and prose passages in Portuguese. It became immensely popular and was widely imitated not alone in Spain but in the other countries of southern and western Europe. It was translated into Eng lish by Bartholomew Young in 1583 and pub lished in 1598 and was very widely read in Eng land. Sidney's 'Arcadia' probably owed its existence to the 'Diana' and it was certainly strongly influenced by it ; and Shakespeare, in 'Two Gentlemen of Verona' and in parts of other plays shows the effect that the 'Diana' had alreadrhad upon English literature. Monte mayor's work, being modeled on the Italian pas toral novel which had, to a certain extent, al ready had its influence upon English literature, the 'Diana' found the proper soil in which to plant itself. Montemayor, who had not finished

the 'Diana Enamorada at the time of his death, left instructions that it should be completed by Dr. Alonso Perez of Salamanca who wrote ac cordingly 'Segundo del Salamantino) in 1564. In the same year Gil Polo wrote a second Both of these books are patent imitations of Montemayor's novel. Scores of other imitations followed, among the authors thereof being no less personages than Cervantes and Lope de Vega. The ero) of Montemayor (2 vols., Antwerp 1544 58) contains some of his own lyrics. An edi tion of Montemayor's works was published in Barcelona in 1886.

Bibliography.— Butler, Clark H., 'Spanish (London 1909) • Fitzmaurice-Kelly, James, 'A History of Spanish Literature' (1898) • also article in the Revue hispanique (1895, 'Vol. II, pp. 304-311) ; Garcia Perez, Domingo, 'Catilago razonado biografico y bibliografico de los autores portugueses que escribieron en castellano' (Madrid 1890) ; Gim aaes, D., 'Birnardin Ribeiro) (Lisbon 1908) ; Marsan, J., 'La pastorale dramatique en France' (Paris 1905) ; Milendez y Pelayo, Marcelino, 'Los siete libros de la Diana' (Vol. VII, Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Esparioles); 'Orige nes de la novela' (Vol. I, Nueva Biblioteca de Au tores Espanoles); Rennert, H. A., 'The Spanish Pastoral Novel' (Philadelphia 1912) ' herr, G., ,Jorge' de Montemayor, sein Leben and sein Schaferroman' (Halle 1886) ; Ticknor, G., 'History of Spanish Literature' (New York 1854).