Three Moments in the Crisis of Exemplarity: Boccaccio-Petrarch, Montaigne, and Cervantes

Author(s): Karlheinz Stierle

Source: Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 59, No. 4 (Oct., 1998), pp. 581-595
Published by: University of Pennsylvania Press
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 Three Moments in the Crisis of
Exemplarity:Boccaccio-Petrarch
Montaigne, and Cervantes

KarlheinzStierle

In his recent book History as TopicPeter von Moos denies that therewas
any crisis for the exemplumin the Renaissance.'He stronglyarguesagainstmy
essay on "Historyas exemplum,"where I pointed out that in Montaigne,as
earlierin Boccaccio, the pragmaticformof exemplumis put into question.2My
main interestin this essay, however,was not to marka breakbetween Middle
Ages and Renaissancebut to understandthe way in which the correlationbe-
tween sententia and exemplumwas transformedinto a more complex relation
betweenmoralreflectionandparticularcase. Undoubtedly,since ValeriusMaxi-
mus and his Factorumet dictorummemorabiliumlibri, there has always been,
as in John of Salisbury'sPolicratius,the possibility of questioning the exem-
plarytruthof the exemplumby opposingit to a never-endingwealthof counter-
examples. This, however,never puts into question the idea of exemplarityit-
self. The validity of the exemplumas a rhetoricalform of narrationthat tends
towardsits own conceptualor ideological structurehas an anthropologicalba-
sis. It presupposesthat over time, there is more analogy in humanexperience
than diversity, or that in all situations of civil and political life the pole of
equality is strongerthanthatof difference.

Boccaccio's novella is precisely the narrativeform thatputs this anthropo-

logical basis into question. Each novella in the Decameron is essentially a

'Peter von Moos, Geschichteals TopikDas rhetorischeExemplumvon der Antikebis zur

Neuzeit und die historiae im "Policratius"Johanns von Salisbury (Zurich, 1988), xxii and
passim.
2 Stierle, "Geschichte als Exemplum-Exemplum als Geschichte. Zur Pragmatikund
Poetik narrativerTexte" in Geschichte-Ereignis und Erzahlung,eds. ReinhartKoselleck and
W.-D. Stempel (Munich, 1973), 347-75 (French translationin Poetique, 10 [1972], 176-98).

581
Copyright1998byJournalof theHistoryof Ideas,Inc.
582 KarlheinzStierle

particularvariantof a more generalconceptualscheme.The stressof narration,

however, is not on the scheme itself but on the autonomyof the variant.Basi-
cally the novella is a form of rewritingin the mode of retelling, thus bringing
an elementarynarrationto highercomplexity.3Each of the "varicasi,"mostly
of love-affairs, is a confrontationof exemplarity and contingency. It is the
power of contingencyorfortuna that brings forth the specific particularityof
each novella. The art of the writer Boccaccio, whose primaryfiction is oral
story-telling, consists in giving aesthetic evidence to this particularity.Read-
ing, not listening, is the form of reception that correspondsto this structure.
That Boccaccio adds the othertitle "IIPrencipeGaleotto"to the Decameronis
an allusion to Dante's Divine Commedywhere in the famous episode of Paolo
and Francesca(Inf. V), Galeottobecomes the personificationof the allegoryof
reading and its seduction.
Contingency,or, in Boccaccio's own medieval terms,fortuna, is the real
poet of the novella. That is why the most importantscenes of the novellas are
those where the powerof contingencycomes to light: at the sea and in the city.
The particularshape of novella, which results from a balancebetween contin-
gency and significantconfiguration,emerges from contingencyitself. Its con-
figurationis a particularcase of contingency,one that by its immanentstruc-
turalelegance is aestheticallygratifying.It neverthelessleaves open the ques-
tion whethertheremight not be a powerof a superiorkind behindcontingency.
Because there is an ambiguitybetween contingency and sense, the exemplary
status of each story is, ironically,placed in question. Contingencyovercomes
exemplarity;however,it nevertriumphsdefinitely.The impacton the exemplum
by contingency not only gives to each narrativecase its difference or even
autonomy,it also opens up a new temporaldimension.The exemplumseems to
move in anessentialtimewhereall time-aspectsarecontrolledandfunctionalized
by a dominatingconceptualstructure.In the novella time becomes a primary
structure."Or avviene che" is the narrativeformula for this new quality of
narrativetime, becoming a time of disruptionand instabilitywhere things and
situationsmay change in a momentfor the betteror for the worse.
I would like to illustratethe structureof the Boccaccian novella by at least
one exemplarycase. Almost in the middle of the book-which means in the
middle of its temporalspace of ten days-we find the novella of Federigodegli
Alberighi, considered to be one of Boccaccio's finest (V, 9). Federigo, in a
world of merchantsandtrade,is the perfectnoblemanwho ruinshimself by his
constant and almost obsessive love for Monna Giovanna.His love, which is
never returned,has its culminationwhen Monna Giovanna,having become a

3 See Hans-Jorg Neuschafer, Boccaccio und der Beginn der Novelle. Strukturender

Kurzerzahlungauf der Schwelle zwischen Mittelalter und Neuzeit (Munich, 1969), chap. II,
33-51: "Die Komplizierung traditioneller Handlungsschematadurch besondere Umstande
(Novelle im Vergleichmit Vida und Exemplum)."
The Crisis of Exemplarity 583

widow, comes to see him. In his despair,as he is so poor now that he cannot
offer her anything,he kills his falcon, his only remainingpleasure,and serves
it to her for dinner.His despairbecomes extreme when he learns that Monna
Giovannahad come explicitly to demandhis falcon-the only thingthatwould
preventhermelancholicson fromdying. This useless expense in extremis,how-
ever, is the origin of his final gratification.Giovanna,urged by her brothersto
remarry,chooses Federigoas his love is so unselfishand constant.Is this not an
exemplumof selflessness rewarded?Is Federigonot an exemplumof chivalric
love and courtesy?Yet, this gratificationis highly problematicbecause it de-
pends upon a unique constellation of contingent moments. The coincidence
that powers the story makes the exemplumbecome an extraordinary,almost
improbableevent, where fortune or chance has acted as if it were the instru-
ment of exemplarysense. Furthermore,Federigo'sconstancy also is not with-
out problems.Is his courtesy really courtesy or is it folly? Is it not somehow
foolish to offer a falcon for dinner?Is the brutalityof this acte gratuit an ex-
tremeact of courtesyor a step beyond?One can well understandthe skepticism
of Giovanna'sbrotherswhen they learnof her decision to marryhim.

Petrarch'suse of the exemplumform seems to be quite the opposite of

Boccaccio's. If in Boccaccio the crisis of exemplaritybecomes evident in his
shift from exemplumto novella, Petrarch,in his greatletter of justificationfor
his overabundantuse of exempla(letterto GiovanniColonna,FamiliaresVI, 4),
seems to follow a traditionalmodel of exemplum,thatof the exemplamajorum,
the examples of the ancestors. "I abound with exempla, with illustrious and
trueones, and where, if I am not mistaken,pleasureemerges from authority."4
For Petrarch,exemplarityexists as a chain of testimonies throughtime. The
abundanceof exempla in Petrarchdoes not just mean diversity. It creates a
coherentexemplaryhistorywhich is the horizonof Petrarch'sintellectualiden-
tity: "Nothing moves us more than the examples of famous men."5If the
exemplumis an image of one of the heroes of the past, one may wonderwhich
is more efficient, the statueas an idealized apparitionof the hero or the verbal
image of exemplum.Petrarch'sdecision in this early paragone is unambigu-
ous: statuesare the images of the bodies, exemplathe images of virtue.6Exem-
plarityhere seems to be without any doubt the essence of the exemplum.This
unambiguousaffirmation,however, is made in a situation of hesitation and
ambiguity.In orderto demonstratethe functionof exemplum,Petrarchrefersto
an exemplarycase, that of Augustine. In a situationof doubt and uncertainty

4
Francesco Petrarca,Le Familiari, ed. Ugo Dotti (Urbino, 1974), II, 665: "Exemplis
abundo, sed illustribus,sed veris, et quibus, nisi fallor, cum delectatione insit autoritas."
5 Ibid. "Me quidem nihil est quod moveat quantumexempla clarorumhominum."
6 Ibid., 669. "Nec impropriemihi videor dicturus statuas corporum imagines, exempla
virtutum."
584 KarlheinzStierle

Augustine suddenly found his way by exemplatold to him by Pontitianus,by

Antonius Aegyptiacus, the rhetorVictorinus, and two functionaries,who all
decided to convert to Christianity.By these exempla the eternally hesitating
Augustinewas broughtto change his life. Thus Petrarch,even more hesitating
and uncertainof himself than Augustine, needs exempla of virtue to give a
shape to his ever-vacillatingexistence.
The horizon of exemplarityin Petrarchcontraststo his experienceof all-
invadingplurality,relativity,andperspectivism.Inone of his lettersto his brother
Gherardo(Fam. X, 5) he draws a picture of the infinity of differences that
governhumanlife. Thereis the differencebetween vita activa andvitapassiva,
betweenprofessionsanddeeds, between interpretationin knowledge(scientia)
and in wisdom (sapientia). Finally,what we thinkto be the substantialunityof
a person is in reality but an amountof differencesand contradictions:

Who amongstus, I ask, does want the same thing being an old man as
when he was young? But less: Who wants the same in winter than in
summer?And I did not precisely say what I mean:Who amongst us
wants the same today as yesterday,the same in the evening what he
wanted in the morning?If you divide the days in hours, the hours in
minutes,you will find in one man more intentionsthen there are mo-
ments.7

There are two different kinds of exempla to be found in Boccaccio and

Petrarch.The exemplummainly used in Petrarchto illustratedifferentvirtues
and vices is what we might call the type of paradigmaticexemplum.Its domain
is prescriptivemoralphilosophyor ethics. The secondtype of exemplum,which
we find mainlyin Boccaccio, refersto a configurationor constellationof moral
powers,and could be called a syntagmaticexemplum.Since its main use is not
imitationbut moral reflection, it is here that we may trace the crisis of exem-
plarity.8

Boccaccio and Petrarchare the first to reflect, each in his own way, the
beginningof a crisis of exemplarity.Its culmination,however,is reachedwith

7
Ibid., 1117, 1119. "Quis nostrum, queso enim, idem vult senex quod voluit iuvenis?
minus dico: quis nostrumidem vult hieme quod estate? necdum quod in animo est dixi: quis
nostrum idem vult hodie quod heri, idem sero quod mane voluerat? ipsum diem in horas,
horam in momenta partire;plures unius hominis voluntates iuvenies quam momenta."
8 Particularlyinteresting in this connection is El conde Lucanor by Don Juan Manuel

(1282-1348), where syntagmaticexempla are still under the tight control of exemplarity.In
problematicsituations where the right decision is hard or impossible to reach, the count asks
his counselor for advice. The counselor tells him an exemplumwhich by analogy helps the
count find the right solution somehow "by himself." The count, then, reflects upon the con-
verging of the exemplumand his own experience and gives his generalassessmentthe shape of
a proverbin the form of a rhyme which the readershould be able to keep in mind.
The Crisis of Exemplarity 585

Montaigne.Montaigne's world is a world of pluralityand coexistence, nour-

ished by new dimensionsof readingprovidedby the printedbook. The experi-
ence of plurality,so powerfullyarticulatedin Boccaccio and Petrarch,becomes
the very center of Montaigne's essays.9 The exemplum,which in Petrarchis
still a barrieror safeguardagainstplurality,becomes a figure of pluralityitself.
LikeBoccaccio,Montaigneis mainlyconcernedwithwhatwe calledsyntagmatic
exemplum,that is, with moral constellations,where the common groundgets
more and more problematic.The essay itself wanders from one problematic
exemplumto another.Their infinity keeps the discourse of reflection going.
The physiognomicshapeof thinking,respondingto the experiencesof the body,
becomes its own subject.'0
In Montaigne, one of the most strikingexamples of what the crisis of ex-
emplaritythroughdiversitymeans is found at the end of "Des coches" (Book
III, chap. 6). While sitting on his golden chairin the midst of battleagainstthe
white conquistadores,the last king of Peru is finally pulled by his hair and
thrownto the groundby a rideron his horse. This tragic event is but the final
point of confrontationof two culturalworlds entirely differentin their mental
structure.Montaigneputs the exemplumat the end of the essay withoutcom-
mentaryand leaves it to the readerto work it out on his own." Neverthelessthe
exemplumitself reflects the essay in its centralargumentation.In "Des coches"
more than in any otheressay, Montaigneworks out a kind of theoryof culture
and culturaltime. Culturesare worlds with times of their own and their own
relationsto nature.Thereareold culturesandnew cultures,as thereareold and
new cosmic worlds that coexist. The world is a place of growing differences.
Indeed, the world itself is plural: "The universe will fall into paralysis;one
limb will be lame, the other one vigorous."2Thus, the confrontationof "our

9For the postmedieval

conceptof pluralityin Montaignesee KarlheinzStierle, "Montaigne
und die Erfahrungder Vielheit" in Die Pluralitat der Welten.Aspekte der Renaissance in der
Romania, eds. W.-D. Stempel and KarlheinzStierle (Munich, 1987), 417-48.
10I am well aware of the fact that in this
paper I am making Montaignethe exemplary
figure of problematizedexemplarity.The subtle ways the crisis of exemplarityis taking in the
French Renaissance and particularlyin Montaigne may be followed in FrancoisRigolot's Le
Textede la Renaissance (Geneva, 1984) and his Les Metamorphoses de Montaigne (Paris,
1988). Rigolot connects late medieval theology and exemplarityin his "The Heptameronand
the 'Magdalen Controversy':Dialogue and Humanist Hermeneutics"in Critical Tales. New
Studies of the "Heptameron"and Early Modem Culture,eds. John D. Lyons and Mary B.
McKinley (Philadelphia, 1993), 218-31; and idem, "Magdalen'sSkull: Allegory and Iconog-
raphy in Heptameron32," Renaissance Quarterly,47 (1989), 57-73. See also Ullrich Langer,
Divine and Poetic Freedomin the Renaissance. NominalistTheology and Literaturein France
and Italy (Princeton, 1990), and Timothy Hampton, Writingfrom History: The Rhetoric of
Exemplarityin Renaissance Literature(Ithaca, 1990).
" See KarlheinzStierle, "VomGehen, Reiten und Fahren.Der Reflexionszusammenhang
von Montaignes 'Des coches,' " Poetica, 14 (1982), 195-212.
12
Montaigne, "Des coches," Les Essais, ed. PierreVilley (Paris, 1978), 909. "L'univers
tomberaen paralisie; l'un membre sera perclus,l'autre en vigueur."
586 KarlheinzStierle

world"-the world of Europe-with the Indian world cannot be but tragic,

since theirdifferencecannotbe mediatedanymore.
Montaigneis awareof the exemplum'shidden plurality,and thatby narra-
tive accentuationthe exemplarityof the exemplumcan always take on another
face. This discrete artof accentuationis Montaigne'slittle-consideredskill of
story-telling. Montaigne is aware of his own interpretation of the retold
exemplum,buthe also leaves it to the readerto give it new aspectsof exemplar-
ity and thus to continue the work of interpretationby narration.

And how manystoriesdid I disseminatethatdo not pointto theirmean-

ing and, if someone would treatthem a little more ingeniously,could
produceinfiniteessays. Neitherthey themselvesnordo my allegations
always serve as example, authority,or ornament.I do not envisage
them solely for their use. They often bear, beyond my intention,the
seed of a richerandmorerisky subjectandhave a more subtleovertone
both for me who does not want to say more and for those who encoun-
ter my melody.'3

Varietyweakens the pathosof the exemplumand underminesits authority.

If the exemplarityof the exemplumis put into question, there is no longer any
need to refer to outstandingfigures of history and myth. Authoritythus is re-
placed by authenticity.The experience of the ordinaryman becomes a new
basis for making exempla. This is the reason why Montaigne, after having
questioned the traditionalform of authoritarianexemplum,turns to his own
life. The variety of personalexperience can only demonstratethat the coher-
ence of exemplumis but a myth. Life is always too complex to be reducedto
exemples. The only lesson ordinarylife allows is a negative one: it shows that
there is no groundfor exemplarity.This is brillantlydemonstratedin the essay
on repentance("Durepentir,"Book III,chap.2). It seems at firstthatMontaigne
would make self-representationas the ground of exemplarity.However, the
moral portraithe wants to give of himself is difficult or even impossible. The
painterhas no fixed identity,nor has the paintedsubject, which is the painter
himself. Time subverts the substantialityof the exemplumby transposingit
into difference.The identityof the subjectmust be found in ever smallerunits
of time, and yet it cannotbe found because even in a moment, the subjectis a
multiplicityof ego instances.
13"ConsiderationsurCiceron,"Essais, Book I, chap. 40, 251. "Etcombien y ay-je espandu
d'histoiresqui ne disentmot, lesquellesqui voudraesplucherun peu ingenieusement,en produira
infinis Essais. Ny elles, ny mes allegations ne servent pas tousjours simplement d'exemple,
d'authorite ou d'ornement. Je ne les regarde pas seulement par l'usage que j'en tire. Elles
portent souvent, hors de mon propos, la semence d'une matiere plus riche et plus hardie, et
sonnent a gauche un ton plus delicat, et pour moy qui n'en veux exprimerd'avantage,et pour
ceux qui rencontrerontmon air."
The Crisis of Exemplarity 587

Montaignein his reflectionson time andvarietyrefersto Petrarch'sidea on

self and variety,buthe goes far beyond Petrarchby takingthe idea of temporal
identity to its last consequence. "I do not paint being. I paint the passage, not
the passage from one age to another,or as people say, from one seven-year
periodto the next, but fromday to day,from minuteto minute."'4This program
means that not only is biography impossible, but so is repentancesince no
privilegedmomentcan be found in time, where the ego could find a hierarchi-
cal superiority in order to judge one of his own past moments. Suspended
judgment,provisionalthinkinginsteadof exemplarity,then, is a formof reflec-
tion correspondingto this experience.Yet, in opening the exemplumto mo-
ments of life in their infinite variety,there is hope that throughthe never-end-
ing movement of experience and reflection, something might be found of the
human condition,just as throughthe griffonnageof Giacometti'sdrawings,a
formof humanexistencein its singularityandgeneralityappears.As Montaigne
says, "I presenta humblelife withoutglory, it's all the same. You may as well
deduce the whole of moralphilosophyfrom a popularand privatelife as from
a life of richersubstance.Every man representsthe entireform of humancon-
dition."'5
Phenomenologicaldescriptionof ordinaryexperience and descriptionof
the perceptionand penetrationof experience then take the place of the tradi-
tional exemplum.To be sure, Montaignestill refers to a classical and humanist
wealth of exempla.In new contexts, however,they now become exemplaof the
infinite variety of the humancondition.
One of the most strikingparadigmsof this movementinto realms beyond
exemplarityis "De l'exercitation"(Book II, chap. 6). Deathis the most particu-
lar and the most general experience. There are great and exemplary deaths
which, by theirmagnificence,detractfrom what death is. We know deathfrom
the outside; but from within, this experienceis without language.This is why
Montaigne, througha precise descriptionof what we would today call a trau-
matic shock, wants to approachthe experienceof death as closely as possible.
Never before had there been so precise a description of traumaticshock as
Montaigne'srepresentationof his fall from a horse.
The exemplumis essentially a narrativeform with a clear-cutconceptual
shape. Only throughits precise shape can it function.The exemplumhas to be
clearerthanthatwhich it exemplifies. Montaigne'sexemplumof his own life is
of anotherkind:it is a discoveryby the very movementof its textualdynamics.

Essais,805. "Jene peintspas l'estre.Je peintsle passage:non un pas-

14"Durepentir,"
sage d'aageen autre,ou, commedict le peuple,de septen septans,maisde jouren jour,de
minuteen minute."
15Ibid."Je
proposeunevie basseet sanslustre,c'est toutun.Onattacheaussibientoute
la philosophiemoralea unevie populaireet priveequea unevie de plusricheestoffe:chaque
hommeportela formeentierede l'humainecondition."
588 KarlheinzStierle

Historyand discourseinterpenetratein the discursivemode of the essay: "It is

a painfulenterprise,and more thanit seems, to follow such a vagabondpace as
thatof our mind, to penetratethe darkdepthsof its interiorwindings,to choose
and to bring to a standstill so many subtle airs of its agitations."'6The
exemplum-Montaigne's fall and his traumahours after-is notjust related,it
is penetratedby an intense questioningof the experienceof his own mind and
representedin the tentativemode of metaphor:"I paintmainly my cogitations,
a subject lacking form and out of which no regularproductioncan be made.
With the greatestdifficulty I can couch it in this etherealbody of the voice."17
The crisis of exemplumand exemplarityin Montaigne,however,does not
mean their end. This is clearly demonstratedin "De l'experience"(Book III,
chap. 13). If the mindin its "chassede la verite"meets pluralityanddifference,
and if the dynamics of difference risk to become a burden,Montaigneleaves
himself to the "mol chevet" of ignorance and to the confidence of the "ame
bien nee" into the "ordrenatureldes choses."This returnto nature,however,is
but a momentof relief in an ongoing processof reflection,whereno end can be
found.18

The exemplumis based upon a positive anthropologywhere basic human

attitudescan be distinguishedand wherenormsof behaviorcan be established.
Montaigne,by his suspensionof exemplarity,is at the origin of whatone might
call negativeanthropology.Just as negativetheology, in a never-endingmove-
ment of affirmationand denial, tries to approachwhat escapes affirmativedis-
course, so is negativeanthropologya never-endingmovementtowardsthe eva-
sive natureof humancondition. The writing of moralistssince Montaigne is
essentially a formof negativeanthropology.The negationof the exemplumand
of exemplarityis its first operation;yet negationcan never entirely get rid of
from what it stems.
If the crisis of exemplarityis at the origin of new forms of moralistreflec-
tion focussing on negativeanthropology(one thinksof Pascal'sPensees andLa
Rochefoucauld'sMaximes et reflexions'9),it also provokes a new historical

"De l'exercitation,"Essais, 378. "C'est une espineuse entreprise,et plus qu'il ne semble,
16

de suyvre une alleure si vagabonde que celle de nostre esprit; de penetrerles profondeurs
opaques de ses replis internes;de choisir et arrestertant de menus airs de ses agitations."
17
Ibid., 379. "Jepeins principalementmes cogitations,subjectinforme,qui ne peut tomber
en productionouvragere.A toute peine le puis je coucher en ce corps aeree de la voix."
18 See Hampton,Writingfrom History, 185ff. "Montaignerendersthe entire issue of the
ethical integrityof the exemplarynarrativeirrelevant.Throughthis ironic stratagemMontaigne
is able to detach an exemplary 'self' from its actions-a 'self' that can emerge as an authority,
not because of a series of specific scenes in which it acts virtuouslybut because of a particular
attitude,a mode of approachingboth the trials of existence and its own achievements."
'9 See Stierle, "Die Modernitatder franzosischen Klassik. Negative Anthropologie und
funktionalerStil,"in FranzosischeKlassik, eds. F. Nies and KarlheinzStierle (Munich, 1985).
The Crisis of Exemplarity 589

consciousness. The fact that history can no longer be a reservoirof examples

for all kinds of humanbehaviourbrings about the necessity of understanding
histories as moments of an ongoing process of which every event becomes a
part. The crisis of exemplarity is the origin of a new moral, historical, and
anthropologicalhermeneutics.
However, neithernegative anthropologynor historicalconsciousness had
the power to eliminate the concept of exemplarity completely. The Renais-
sance crisis of exemplarityends in a complicated copresence of exemplarity
and its problematization.This can be studied with particularevidence in Cer-
vantes.Cervantesdoes not put exemplarityinto question;however,he pushesit
to its ironic corrosion.Thus Don Quixote is both a heroic example (in his own
eyes) and an example of the dangersof readingfiction. His memorabledeeds,
producedby his own desire for exemplarity,are but void projectionsof reading
into reality.But when, aftera long process of disillusionment,he frees himself
from his own fantastic projections of fiction into life, he becomes Alonso
Quixano el bueno, exemplaryin humanity.
Even more interestingas an instanceof the copresenceof exemplarityand
its crisis are Cervantes'sNovelas ejemplares(1613) which take us back to the
origin of the novella-the exemplum.Cervanteshimself insists upon theirex-
emplaryquality:

I have given the name of exemplarynovellas to them, and if you have

a careful look at them, there is none which would not deliver a useful
example, and if it would not lead me too far, I would like to show you
the tasteful and honest fruit which you could gain out of them alto-
gether,but also out of each one in particular.20

However, when Cervantesstrongly affirms that he himself would cut off the
handthatwrotethese novellas, shouldthey cause any baddesireor thinking,he
promises to do what the one-armedauthorwho lost his otherarm at the battle
of Lepanto could never be able to do. So the promise is worthless, and it re-
mains up to the readerto decide whetherthese exemplarynovellas are named
ironically or what their exemplary charactermay be, since the right lesson
sometimesseems hardto find. Cervantespraiseshimself as being the firstSpan-
ish writer to write novellas not in the style of Boccaccio. This means that
Cervantestries to combine exemplaryfigures and fates with their opposite-

20"Prologo al lector,"Novelas ejemplares,ed. Harry Sieber (Madrid, 1981), I, 52. Vol-

ume and page referencesto this edition are in the notes. "Heles dado nombrede ejemplares,y
si bien lo miras,no hay ningunade quien no se pueda sacar algun ejemplo provechoso;y si no
fuera por no alargareste sujeto, quiza te mostrarael sabroso y honesto fruto que se podria
sacar, asi de todasjuntas, como de cada una de por s."
590 KarlheinzStierle

the unique, the singularand the morallyambiguous.So, what is exemplaryin

Cervantes'snovellas? This question seems to have as many answers as there
areliterarycriticsof Cervantes.2'It seems to me, however,thatthe very domain
of poetry in the novella is the fundamentaltension between singularity and
exemplarityandtheirimaginaryunfolding.Comparedto Boccaccio,Cervantes's
exemplarynovellas give a new shapeto this literaryform by approximatingon
one side the exemplum,and on the other side the structuralplurality of the
novel.
Cervantes'scharacters,such as the Gitanilla,the LicenciadoVidriera,the
Celoso Extremeiioandhis young wife, Rinconete,andCortadillo,and even the
dogs Berganzaand Cipi6n, are far from being exemplary;yet, they are figures
within a narrativetexturewhich does not give the last word to relativity.Very
often the dominantfiguresof Cervantes'snovellasdo not belong to "ourworld,"
that is, to the world of Cervantes'sprimaryreaders.They are exemplary for
anotherworld, a strangeor marginalor hostile world, which by means of nar-
rationwe learnto understandin its own tight. Each novella of Cervantesplays
out world againstworld. The narrator'singenio then consists in the invention
of narrativemodes of understandingthose worlds. The crisis of exemplarity
broughton by the new and powerful experiences of pluralityin the Renais-
sance, for whom the division of the CatholicChurchand the discovery of the
New World are but symptoms, brings about the necessity of new modes of
understandingand of new discursive strategies.Thus Cervantes'snovellas are
exemplaryin their humanistor Erasmianhermeneuticpoetics of understand-
ing.
This essential structureof Cervantes's"exemplary"novellas is presented
with particularsubtlety in the programmaticfirst novella "La Gitanilla."The
narratorof this novella himself seems to be the voice of generalprejudiceof the
bourgeoisworldof Madridwith regardto the strangeworldof the gypsies. The
beginningof the text is an affirmationof all the prejudicesthe gypsies encoun-
ter:

It seems thatmale and female gypsies are only bornto be thieves, they
are born from thief-parents,they grow up amongstthieves, they study
to be thieves, andfinally they havebecome thieves themselvesreadyto
cope with any situation,and the pleasureof stealing and stealing itself
have become unseparablepartsof theirbeing which they lose only in
death.22

See the introductionto HarrySieber's edition; also Alban K. Forcione, "The Classical
21

Novella Reconstructed-Exemplary Unexemplarity and the Liberation of the Reader" in

Cervantesand the HumanistVision:A Studyof FourExemplaryNovels (Princeton, 1982), 84-
92; and Georges Giintert,Cervantes.Novelar el mundo desintegrado (Barcelona, 1992).
22I, 61. "Pareceque los gitanos y gitanassolamentenacieronen el mundoparaser ladrones:
nacen de padres ladrones, crianse con ladrones, estudian para ladrones, y, finalmente, salen
The Crisis of Exemplarity 591

However, in this world we are confronted with la Gitanilla, la Preciosa, or

Doia Constanza,a gypsy girl of the most wonderfulbeauty,great dancerand
singer of romances, as virtuousas she is beautiful and gifted with the finest
reason. Since la Gitanillahas been stolen by gypsies when she was still a baby,
she is the ideal mediatingfigure between their world and thatof Spanishcivic
society, which is at the same time the presupposedworld of the reader.If la
Gitanilla by education belongs to the world of gypsies and their own moral
value system, neverthelessshe is bound only to her free will. La Gitanillabe-
longs to neitherof the two worlds;she lives in a space in between and follows
her own reasonwithoutbeing disloyal to the gypsy world.WhenDon Juan,the
son of a well-to-do Spanish noblemanof Madrid,falls in love with her and
accepts her condition to leave his parentsand to join her for a time of proba-
tion, he is solemnly acceptedby the tribe.They are marriedaccordingto tribal
customs, but la Gitanillaprotests, insisting upon her own contractwith Don
Juan, who renamedhimself Andrea and whom she will not accept until her
contractis fulfilled.
La Gitanilla is exemplary neither as a gypsy nor as a member of better
Spanish society. She is exemplaryin following her own vision of honesty and
reason, which is at the same time individualand particularand yet more gen-
eral than any establishedordercould be. This, however,is not all. The name
that the gypsies themselves gave to her is Preciosa. She is precious for her
beauty, her skills in dancing and singing, and particularlyfor her fine mind.
Mostly, however,she is precious to herself: she keeps herself as a treasureas
she will give herselfonly to the manwho is worthsharingherlife. Butpreciosa
is also the quality that distinguishes poetry in the view of the young poet
Clemente for whom love poetry is more fascinatingthan love:

Poetry has to be used like a most precious jewel, which its owner neither
carries with him every day, nor shows to everyone at every step, but instead
only if thereis a good reasonfor showing it. Poetryis a beautifulyoung demoi-
selle, chaste, honest, intelligent, witty and reserved, and moving within the
limits of the finest understanding.She is a friend of solitude.The springstalk
to her, the meadows console her, the trees entertainher,the flowers enjoy her,
and finally she pleases and instructsall those who are in communicationwith
her.23

con ser ladrones corrientesy molientes a todo ruedo, y la gana del hurtary el hurtarson en
ellos como ac[c]identes inseparables,que no se quitan sino con la muerte."
23I, 90-91. "Hasede usar de la poesia como una joya preciosisima, cuyo duefo no la trae
cada dia, ni la muestraa todas gentes, ni a cada paso, sino cuandoconvengay sea raz6nque la
muestre. La poesia es una bellisima doncella, casta, honesta, discreta,aguda,retirada,y que se
contiene en los limites de la discreci6n mas alta. Es amiga de la soledad. Las fuentes la
entretienen,los pradosla consuelan,los arbolesla desenojan,las flores la alegran,y, finalmente,
deleita y ensefia a cuantos con ella comunican."
592 KarlheinzStierle

This correspondancebetween Preciosa's name and the highest quality of po-

etry in the words of the young poet is a hint for understandingwhat the real
exemplarityof la Gitanillainvolves. She is incorporatingin an exemplaryway
Cervantes'sconception of poetry itself. Preciosa is not only the name of the
novella's heroine and of the essence of poetry,it is a designationfor this first
novella of Cervantesitself. Essential to this preciosityas reflected in Preciosa
is not the splendorof a codified poetic rhetoric,but the beauty of prose in its
reasonandeverydayexperience,in its mobility and soberelegance. The poetry
of prose-this is Cervantes'ssurprisingnew idea-turns out to be superiorto
poetry itself. Thus all the romanceswithin the novella are in theirmarkedcon-
ventionality clearly inferior to the beauty of Cervantes'sown prose. The no-
vella ends when orderis finally re-established:gypsy worldandcivic worldare
separated. There is one exception, however:the old gypsy woman who once
stole the baby is allowed to stay with her "daughter,"a sign thatnow the sepa-
ration is no longer an absolute one. Thus the space of poetry is the "space
between."Imaginationboundinto poetic form, the reasonablebeautyof prose,
is a means of passing borderlinesand taking the risk of understandingwhat
seems to be outside, beyond the reader'shorizon of experience. The poetic
principle in Cervantesturns out to be a hermeneuticprinciple.This is a new
kind of exemplaritythat has gone throughthe crisis of exemplarity.24
Most of Cervantes'snovellas involve crossings of borderlines,imaginary
explorationsof the strange,the forbidden,and the hostile. Thus in the novella
of Rinconete and Cortadillo we are introducedto the underworldof Seville
which we see from the perspectiveof the two young rogues. Insteadof finding
a world of freedom,they are confrontedwith a world of criminalbureaucracy,
ignorance,and violence which seems to be a parodyof the world of orderand
repression they escaped. At the end of the novella the reader is promised a
continuationof their story which is to be an example for those who read it.
"...[A]nd thus we leave it for anotheroccasion to tell their lives and wonders
togetherwith otherstoriesof those of the infamousacademy,storieswhich will
all be of great interest and serve as example and advice for those who read
them."25 This exemplarypartof the novel, however,remainsa void.
In "LaEspaiola inglesa"the Spanishreaderis once againplaced in a world
beyondthe horizonof his experience.Isabella,a young girl of Cadiz, is brought
to England after having been abductedby an English gentleman, Clotaldo.
Clotaldo, and his wife, both secretly adheringto Catholicism,take care of the
little girl as if she was theirdaughter.Yearslater,theirson Ricaredofalls in love

24See Forcione, "Cervantes'La Gitanilla as ErasmianRomance,"in Cervantes and the

Humanist Vision,93-223.
25
I, 240. "... y asf se deja para otra ocasion contar su vida y milagros, con los de su
maestro Monipodio, y otros sucesos de aqu6llos de la infame academia,que todos seran de
grande consideraci6ny que podranservir de ejemplo y aviso a los que las leyeren."
The Crisis of Exemplarity 593

with her.After a complicated series of events Isabella is finally found by her

parentsand, after the Queen has refused her marriageto Ricaredo,returnsto
Spain.After new adventuresshe is joined by Ricaredo,whom she marriesand
who stays with her in Spain. If at the beginning the Spanishparentslose their
daughter,at the end the Englishparentsof Ricaredo,who had been like parents
to Isabella as well, lose their son. This chiasm of fates once again brings a
distantworld into the reach of the reader'sunderstanding.
"ElLicenciadoVidriera"confrontsthe readerwith anotherdomainbeyond
his own reality:the domainof madness.He gains insight into the conditionsof
aberrantbehavior as he is presentedwith the crazy licenciado who believes
himself to have a body made of glass. It is the mediatingvoice of the narrator
which gives the readera human understandingof what is only the object of
laughterto those surroundingthe poor licenciado. After a brilliantscholarly
careerand a travelto Italy,the licenciado has his sanity shakenby an aphrodi-
siac of a lady wanting to break his resistance to her love. The poor Vidriera
loses his reason and is pursuedby his idee fixe, and yet he shows the finest
irony andwisdom in answeringall the foolish questionsput to him. Whenhe is
finally cured, he cannot make a living amongst those who, now that he is no
longer an object of theirmockery,lose all interestin him. Invitedby a faithful
friend, he goes to Flanders where he dies as a soldier. Thus the formulaof
letras y armas in this story is separatedinto two differentrealities and yet is
broughttogetherby the process of narration,leading the readerinto a reality
that is beyond letras y armas and yet has a dignity of its own.
In "El Celoso Extremeio," the case of a neuroticjealousy, the jealous
Carrizalesis punishedfor his obsession by the apparentbetrayalof his young
wife which turnsout to be a bad intrigue.As in the "LicenciadoVidriera"we
get insighthere into the complex psychology of solipsistic behaviour.Thejeal-
ous old man knowing he will die of a brokenheartdecides, insteadof punish-
ing his wife, to give her a large inheritance,which will allow her to marrythe
man whom he believes to be her successful lover, thinking that he will thus
give an example: "I want to show him in such a way that he remainsto the
world an example if not of goodness at least of a simplicity never heardof."26
At the end the narratorhopes his story will give an example for the general
insight thatone cannottrustkeys as long thereis free will: "AndI who wish to
come to an end with this story, example and mirrorof how little confidence
may be given to keys, bars, and walls, when the will remains free."27Both
exemplaryintentionsof the hero and of the narrator,however,do not coincide
with the realexemplarityof the novella which is once again thatof understand-

26
II, 134. "... quiero mostrarlode modo que quede en el mundo por ejemplo, si no de
bondad, al menos de simplicidadjamas oida ni vista."
27
II, 135. "Y yo quede con el deseo de llegar al fin deste suceso, ejemplo y espejo de lo
poco que hay que fiar de Hlaves,toros y paredes cuando queda la voluntad libre...."
594 KarlheinzStierle

ing what is beyond the ordinaryexperience of the implied reader.He thus is

able to understandthe solitude of an unhappybeing instead of laughing, as
does the readerof Boccaccio's novellas, about the type of jealous man who is
punished.
The two final novellas of the "Casamientoenganioso"and the "Coloquio
de los perros"which form a narrativewhole lead into a world of everyday
experience in all its variety,but also into the world of dogs and witches. And
even these worldsof utmostdifferenceare not withoutreasonand "este grande
beneficio de la habla"(II, p. 359). In the first novella the sergeantCampuzano
leaves the hospitalof Valladolid,wherehe has been curedof syphilis, meets his
old friendthe licenciado, who invites him to be his guest, and tells the storyof
his marriageto a prostitutepretendingto be a rich lady.There is nothingexem-
plary in this novella of mutualfraud. But Campuzanois not only a liar, he is
also an excellent story-tellerwho, duringhis stay at the hospital, has written
the dialogue between two dogs, Berganza and Cipi6n. He pretends to have
listened to them one night when, by miracle, they were gifted with human
voice. Whereas Campuzano falls asleep from exhaustion, his friend, the
licenciado, readswhat the real readerreads with him. The "Coloquio"as con-
cluding novella is in a particularstructuralcorrelationto the "Gitanilla"as
introductorynovella, both being manifestationsof the new poetic quality of
prose as the mediumof everydayexperience,but also as the mediumof trans-
gression of everyday experience. The "Coloquio"mainly consists of the di-
gressive storyof Berganza'slife, whereasthe story of Cipi6n, promisedwithin
fiction as the story of the next night and in the englobing context as the story
Campuzano still has to invent, remains a void. The picturesque novella of
Berganza'saffiliationsto changingmastersgives precise insights into the col-
orful varietyof humanlife as seen by the eyes of a reasonabledog gifted with
his own free will. Berganza,the dog, introducesus to the world of witches. For
at the hospital of Montilla he meets with the witch Canizares,who tells him
that he and Cipi6n are the sons of anotherwitch, Montiela, and that they had
been changedinto dogs by the most famousof witches, Comacha.Canizaresin
all her wickedness believes in God's forgiveness, but is this wickedness not a
fantasmof an old, ugly and unhappywoman?There seems to be reason,how-
ever, in her arguingin spite of her imaginarywitchcraft.Once again poetry,
imaginationis the humanizing,uncynicalform of understanding.When at the
end of the dialogue the canine intellectual Cipi6n confronts the values pro-
duced by fortunewith the everlastingvalues of virtue and good reasoning-
"Virtueand good reasoning are always one and the same, naked or clothed,
alone or in company"28-he gives an exemplarystatementcertainlysharedby
Cervanteshimself, as it should be sharedby the reader,a statement,however,

II, 359. "La virtud y el buen entendimientosiempre es una y siempre es uno: desnudo
28

o vestido, solo o acompafiado."

The Crisis of Exemplarity 595

to whichthe life-storyof Berganzais as little exemplaryas is the storyof

Campuzano.
Exemplarityand crisisof exemplarityhavelearnedto coexist.We have
learnedto respectandto understand differencein its own right.But can we
understand if we don'thaveat leastan ideaof exemplarityin mind?

UniversitatKonstanz.