Le Noches de Placer di Alonso de Castillo Solórzano. Edizione critica e studio

The study I present is the critical edition of Noches de placer, a collection of novelas cortas by Alonso de Castillo Solórzano, published in Barcelona in 1631 by the typographer Sebastián Cormellas. The introduction reconstructs the status quaestionis about Castillo Solórzano’s life ad narrative production, it studies the role of the preliminary texts (introduction, prologue, etc) and, in particular, analyses their structural function along the book. It also focuses on the Italian and Spanish sources used by the author, and on the connections with the dramatic literature of the period (which are clearly reflected in the same structure of the book). Furthermore, it investigates the techniques of re-writing of the Italian novelle: through the application of moralizing strategies, the writer is able to face thorny topics which were considered inadequate (sometimes even forbidden) in the Counter- Reformation Spain. Two of the most recurrent characters in Castillo Solórzano’s production are examined: the cautivo and the figurón-celoso. The introduction provides also a thorough synopsis of each short novel. The text of the novel has been fixed through meticulous philological rules and it has been annotated: the notes give lexical and grammatical explanations, points out the literary, historical and mythological references and explain the editorial choices.