Jesús Hernández Lobato & Óscar Prieto Domínguez (eds.), Literature Squared. Self-Reflexivity in Late Antique Literature

Resum

This paper analyses some passages of Juan Latino’s Austrias Carmen (1573) thatstand out for their great pathos and their ambivalence in the treatment of thecharacters. Here, the poet shows the horrors of war, calls the Christian fleet intoquestion and brings to the forefront the virtues and sufferings of the Turks.However, he does not stop celebrating the victory and takes sides for the Spanishmonarchy and Christianity. This study aims to demonstrate that the poem’sambiguity lies in its imitation of Virgil’s Aeneid and, in part, of Lucan’s Pharsalia, and, furthermore, that it does not contradict the propagandistic or laudatory tone of Juan Latino’s poetic production. This hypothesis is supported byliterary examples, as well as by historical and biographical facts which prove thepoet’s adhesion to the Empire and his complete integration into Spanish society.