| Résumé: | The epic theory of the 16th and 17th centuries was dominated by thePoetics of Aristotle and by the model of Virgil. In spite of that, we will argue that the Spanish epic poems that deal with the Conquista setthemselves apart. The main requirements of the epic theory were temporaldistance and the perfect hero; the Spanish poems, on the contrary,related recent facts and deeds, and their (real) heroes were farfrom being perfect. The Spanish authors found a solution in two directions:1) equating epic and history, 2) adopting the Italian model of theromanzo (Boiardo, Ariosto). Thus, two modern models, quite differentfrom those inherited from Antiquity, appeared. However, at the end ofthe 16th century, doubts arose about the authenticity of the new models;this became quite evident in the poetics of Pincianos, who suspectedthat the novel might be superior to the epic poem. Parting fromthis intuition, the article ends with a reflexion −inspired by the theoryof the novel of Lukácz− on the antinomy of epic and novel as theauthentic expression of modernity.
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