literary time in the cueva de montesinos

8/3/2019 Literary Time in the Cueva de Montesinos

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Literary Time in the "Cueva de Montesinos"Author(s): Harry SieberSource: MLN, Vol. 86, No. 2, Hispanic Issue (Mar., 1971), pp. 268-273Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2907623 .

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268 M L Nin mini-formwhile the Captain is hiding in order to test the reactionof the brother: "Llamauase . . .Ruyperez de Viedma, y era natural devn lugar de las montafiasde Leon" (p. 270).

It may perhaps be even suggestedthat this almost magic formulaicphrase-a device of the artof tellinga story-hasalso some relevanceandimplications n trying o exploreone of the centraland criticalproblemsof the book at large,that of " truehistory."Columbia University KARL-LUDWIG SELIG

6 For this problem, see Bruce W. Wardropper, "Don Quixote: Story orHistory?,"Modern Philology, LXIII (1965-66), 1-11, and also the fine study,important for the methodological aspects of the problem, by Leo Braudy,NarrativeForm in Historyand Fiction: Hume, Fielding & Gibbon (Princeton,1970).

LiteraryTime in the " Cueva de Montesinos"To say nowadaysthatCervantes s a "poeta de la vida" is common-place. Juan Bautista Avalle-Arcehas spoken seriouslyto this clicheand has explored its profound mplications quite successfully.' wouldpreferto look at Cervantesas a poet of life fromanotherperspectiveand to make a perhaps too obvious statement: the closest parallelbetweenDon Quijote and " vida " is death. The thrust f Don Quijoteis towarddeath, as JorgeLuis Borges pointed out long ago.2 Cervantescloses the world of the novel with the deaths of Don Quijote andAlonso Quijano. The sense of an ending is complete and irrevocablein fiction nd in life. However, t pointsto freedom rom ime, freedomDon Quijote glimpsedmomentarily,nd then only in his dreams. Thesevering fthe ties ofhumantemporalitys an escape into an eternalduree-the Divine present-as Cervantesindicates several times in the novel.In Part II Don Quijote says " . .. a solo Dios esta reservado conocerlos tiemposy los momentos,y para El no hay pasado ni porvenir;quetodo es presente" (p. 726).3 And the narratoror translator ays justbeforeSancho is driven fromhis "island ":Pensar que en esta vida las cosas della han de durar siempreen unestado, es pensar en lo escusado; antes parece que ella anda todo en

1 In Deslindes cervantinos (Madrid, 1961), Chapter 1: "Conocimiento y vidaen Cervantes,"pp. 15-80.2 " Analisis del ultimo capitulo del Quijote," RUBA, 5a epoca, I (1956), 28-36.3All quotations fromDon Quijote are based on Martin de Riquer's edition,Editorial Juventud (Barcelona, 1958). Page referenceswill be included in thetext.


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M L N 269redondo,digo, a la redonda: la primaverasigue al verano, el veranoal estio, el estio al otofio,y el otofio al invierno,y el inviernoa laprimavera,y asi torna a andarse el tiempo con esta rueda continua;sola la vida humana correa su fin igeramas que el tiempo, in esperarrenovarse i no es en la otra, que no tiene terminosque la limiten(pp. 922-923).GeorgesPoulet has also conciselydescribed the time of God as con-sistingof a "plenitude, d'une simultaneite mmense."4 The moment-by-moment emporalityof human experience is "remplacee par l'im-mensitede la realite divine. A la place d'un temps v6cu parcelle parparcelle s'etend un monde sans divisionset sans parties, le monde deDieu."5 Alonso Quijano, facing the boredom and routine passing

awayof his life as an hidalgo,was taken over by the temporality f thelooking-glassworld of literature.But even as Don Quijote within thatworld,he cannot overcomethe discontinuities f "human" experience.His literary ime-consciousnessy its verynature defeats the temporalintegration e seeks.The times of God, death and the unconscious,from the point ofview of human temporality, re infinite nd immeasurable: time con-ceived withoutmotion or change is beyondhuman understanding.Evenglimpsesnto a conceptionof timewhichshares ome of thecharacteristicsof the eternal are rare, always chaotic and destructive.The primaryreason for the general dread and confusionwhich accompany such avision is that it questions one's own being in time. The only placein Part II where such a momentovertly ccurstakesplace in the " Cuevade Montesinos" adventure. Only through gradual unravelingof con-fused interpretations f Don Quijote's vision does Cervantes exploreitsmeaning. And even then,thereader leaves the novel withno senseofresolution oncerning ts truthor falsehood.6Two recent studies have come to the same conclusion that DonQuijote's experience n the Cave of Montesinos s related directly o thethematicstructure f Part II.7 While I agree substantiallywith their

4Le mesurede I'instant (Plon, 1968), p. 93.5 Poulet, p. 93.6See John J. Allen, Don Quixote: Hero or Fool? A Study in NarrativeTechnique (Gainesville, 1969), p. 27, and E. C. Riley, Cervantes'sTheory ofthe Novel (Oxford,1962), p 187: " It is useless to ask if what Quixote relatedwas a dream, a wilful fabrication,or anythingelse. Cervantesnever intendedus to know." And I would add that knowing the truth or falsehood is notnecessaryforan understandingof this adventure. What is important s merelyits existencein the novel where it is presented as a unique product of DonQuijote's consciousness.7 Helena Percas Ponsetti," La cueva de Montesinos,"RHM, XXXIV (1968),376.399,and Juan Bautista Avalle-Arce, Don Quijote, o la vida como obra dearte," CHA, No. 242 (Feb., 1970), 247-280.


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270 M L Nargumentsand conclusions, believe that an analysis of its temporalcontext,pointed out to us several timesby Cervanteshimself,will leadto another approach toward an interpretation f Don Quijote's con-sciousness f timeand to a fundamental spectof his madness.Cervantesrefers everal timesto the passing of time in the world ofthe narrative. He uses the same technique as he does elsewhere n thenovel to establish an illusion of the linear clock-time f history.Thenarrator ndicatesthat at two o'clock in the afternoon heprimo,Sanchoand Don Quijote arriveat the cave's entrance (p. 698). Accordingtothe narrator, on Quijote stays n the cave " como media hora" (p. 700).Sancho refers to its interioras hell (p. 701), an implicationthat itslocation is beyondhuman space and time and one which Don Quijotepromptlyrejects. He immediately sks for food, another referencetothe passed temporal ntervalhe has been in the cave. Chapter23 beginswith anotherreference:" Las cuatro de la tardeserian,cuando el sol ...di6 lugar a don Quijote para que . . . contase . . . lo que en la cuevade Montesinos habia visto .. ." (p. 702). By using " como " and " seria"the narrator s conjecturing, nd thus perverselymplies that the exacttime s unimportant.AfterDon Quijote finishes is story ariousreactionsensue, nearlyall of which refer to time: "Ram6n de Hoces fu6 ayer,y lo de Roncesvalles, . ., ha muchos anos . ." (p. 704, emphasishereand following s mine); "Yo no se, sefiordon Quijote, c6mo vuestramerced en tan poco espacio de tiempo . . . haya visto tantas cosas yhablado y respondido tanto (p. 708); " Por otra parte, considero . .que no pudo fabricaren tan breve espacio tan gran mAquinade dis-parates; . . ." (p. 713). The translator concludes: "Tui, letor, . .. juzgalo que te pareciere,que yo no debo ni puedo mas; puesto que se tienenpor ciertoque al tiempode su finy muerte dicen que se retrat6della,y dijo que 61 habia inventado . . ." (p. 713). The entire adventure isframed by temporal references. Even the incredulityof the inneraudience is based on their own perceptionsof experientialtime.Don Quijote's calculation, as everyoneknows, is quite different:hebelieves that he has been in the cave for threedaysand nights (p. 708).Sancho is able to accept his figureby statingthat enchantmentmanip-ulates time in strangeways and that "lo que a nosotrosparece unahora, debe de pareceralla tresdias con sus noches" (p. 708).8Juan Avalle-Arce ttemptsto resolve this problemwith the followingstatement:

Todo el mundo recuerda que hay una discrepancia entre el tiempoque piensa Don Quijote haber pasado en la cueva (tres dias, segun8 It should be notedthateven Sancho's wn calculationfone hourdoesnotcoincidewithwhatthenarrator reviouslytated.


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M L N 271sus cilculos), y lo que afirma ancho, que s61o ha podido contarunahora. La autoridad de Bergson aclara el problema y resuelve ladiscrepancia,porque el hecho es que nos hallamos ante un ejemploclasicode tempsy duree. Don Quijote y Sancho Panza se han topadoen la encrucijada del tiempo cronol6gico y del tiempo psicologico.Para volver a la terminologiade Bergson: Sancho esta hablando detiempo,que es una convenci6narbitraria, ue, en sentidoradical, caepor fuerade nuestraexperiencia,mientrasque Don Quijote esta hab-lando de duraci6n,que es lo que nuestro subconsciente lmacena paramediry categorizarnuestrasexperiencias.9While Avalle-Arcecorrectly ecognizesthe implicationsof this adven-ture (Cervantes'explorationof the subconsciousin literature),he has

oversimplifiedts temporalcontextby applyingBergsonian terminology.He therebyrules out an understandingof literarytime with whichCervantes s concerned n thisepisode. Let us suppose that literary imestandsbetween temps and duree, that it shares characteristicsf bothbut consistsof neither. We mightphrase it in Frank Kermode's terms(which,even thoughperhaps jerked violentlyout of context,turn outto be especially helpful): the temps is chronos (passing time), theduree is kairos (the duration of fulfillment;ritical time; the time ofdeath,of theunconscious). Kermodedescribes iterary ime with the termaevum,"a thirdorder of duration,distinct fromtimeand eternity .participatingn both the temporaland the eternal. It does not abolishtime or spatialize it; it co-existswith time, and is a mode in whichthings can be perpetual without being eternal .... Aevum, you mightsay,is the time-order f novels."Literary ime in Don Quijote is the time of enchantment.The "lit-erary" characterswho appear in Don Quijote's vision (all come fromthe romances and ballads, except for Don Quijote and Dulcinea) arefrozen n time by the enchanterMerlin. Montesinos describes one ofthe stranger characteristics of this enchantment: ". . . es que se, tanciertocomo ahora es de dia, que Durandarte acab6 los de su vida enmis brazos,y que despues de muerto e saque el coraz6n con mis propiasmanos; . . Pues siendo esto asi, y que realmente muri6 este caballero,cc6mo hora se queja y sospira de cuando en cuando, como si estuviesevivo?" (p. 705). Durandarte is dead in terms f chronosbut verymuchalive in the duration of aevum. Dulcinea will remain perpetuallybutnoteternally gly. In hercase, it is specificallytatedthat at somefuture,unknowntime,her disenchantmentmay become possible (pp. 710-711).Montesinos s the "guarda mayor perpetua" (p. 703, my emphasis) ofOp. cit. (note 7), p. 266.10 FrankKermode, The Sense of an Ending: Studies in the Theory of Fiction(New York,1967), pp. 70-72.


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272 M L Nthe vision-world.Durandarte tells Don Quijote thathis fellowprisoners-in-time cannot die: " . . y con otros muchos de vuestros conocidos yamigos,nos tiene aqui encantados el sabio Merlin ha muchos afnos;yaunque pasan de quinientos,no se ha muertoningunode nosotros: ..."(p. 706). These charactersneithereat, drink or sleep; day and nightfollowone another withoutaging thosewho populate thatworld.The oppositeof kairos s chronos n thiscontext, nd there re examplesof its presencewithin the time of Don Quijote's vision. Even thoughthe characters re suspended in time,Don Quijote reportsthat finger-nails, beards, hair, etc. grow as if the characterswere alive. Cervantesis playingwith these outer edges of aevum whereboth the eternal andthe temporal intermingle.Don Quijote is witnessing temporalfrag-mentation,a coming-apart f his own internalworld.Don Quijote's consciousnessof time comes directlyfrom literatureand as such is simplya result of his reading too deeply. He has beentotallypossessedby thetext. Partofhis insanity onsistsn his perceptionof the "world" through iterary ime. But thereis somethingmore tohis experience in the Cave of Montesinos. He seems to move beyondand outside himself n seekinga fixed temporal perspectivefromwhichto reaffirm is identityand self-possession.While in the vision he isfreefrom he timeoftheworldand is able to accomplishhis " impossibletask (Cervantes tells us so in the chapter title) without interruptionsfrom outside his own consciousness. He glimpses the perpetuityofliterary ime, ees himselfwithin t, and recoils from the vision of beingcondemned to confronting erpetuallya disfigured nd enchantedDul-cinea. The lesson he learns is utteredupon emergingfromthe cave:" En efecto: ahora acabo de conocer que todos los contentosdesta vidapasan como sombra y suefio,o se marchitancomo la flordel campo"(p. 701). What he has experienced s a profoundunderstanding f thenecessity f chronos. He "knows" (conocer,not saber) the meaningofaevum: in effect, he vision serves as a mementomori in the literaryworld of perpetualduration,bringinghim back into theworld to whichhe is inextricably ttached. The end of chronos is death, the eternalpresence of God.Don Quijote's experience in the Cave of Montesinos points directlyto the end of the novel and to death. His consciousnessreturnsfromthe literary imeof the world of Montesinosto the aevum of the novelitself. The final acceptance of himselfas Alonso Quijano "el Bueno"is an admissionthathiswill cannotchangeor protract he time of death.When he is apparently rretrievablyost in the cave, Sancho begins toweep just as he will when he discovers hatDon Quijote is dyingat theend of the novel. Moreover,the temporal mpingement romoutside thecave (Sancho and the primo pull Don Quijote out with a rope) brings


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M L N 273Don Quijote back from literary time just as the interruptionofthe act of readingforces he reader out of the literary imeof the novel.The meaningof this time-shifts clear: thedeathof Don Quijote impliesthe deaths ofhis readers. The onlyexit out of the timeof our own look-ing-glassworld is death.Avalle-Arce s correct n one sensewhen he writesthat " Cervanteshaabierto de par en par la puerta que conduce a la plena vida del sub-consciente. La novedad de tal tipo de buceo en la literaturaoccidentales absoluta."11 It mightbe put anotherway: Cervanteshas exploredfor the first ime the literary ime-consciousnessf novel readerswithina novel, firmlyinking the madness of all readerswith the madness ofDon Quijote. Our reading too deeply makes us like Don Quijote. Webecomevictims f literary nchantment,ubject to its temporal tructuresas long as we believe in itsmagic-until the author-enchanterhooses torelease us, or until the demands of life and societyon leisure timeintervene o reclaim and redirectour consciousnesses o the passingawayof our own lives, toward an endingwhichis death.

The Johns Hopkins University HARRY SIEBER

11 Op. cit. (note 7), p. 266.

On ReligiousParody n theBusconThe moral and religious significance f the Busc6n, and the relationof its central figureto societyhave been made clear by the importantarticles of A. A. Parker, T. E. May, and P. N. Dunn.' When thenovel is read in the light of these articles, the importance of theelementof religiousparodybecomes clear.2 Such parody is based uponreligious,or rather, rreverent xpressions, okes and phrases,of whichthere are a large number in the Buscon, as there were in the languageof the time,and in picaresque and low-lifewriting ince the Celestinaand the Lazarillo, even though many of the common jokes in these1A. A. Parker," The Psychologyof the ' Picaro' in El Buscon," MLR, XLII(1947), 58-69; T. E. May, "Good and Evil in the Buscon: A Survey,"MLR,XLV (1950), 319-335; P. N. Dunn, " El individuo y la sociedad en La vida del

Buscon," BHi, LII (1950), 375-396. See also A A. Parker,Literature and theDelinquent: The Picaresque Novel in Spain and Europe (Edinburgh, 1967).2 H. Sieber in a recent reviewarticle," Some Recent Books on the Picaresque,"MLN, LXXXIV (1969), 318-330, mentions "the religious language whichpervades the novel." T. E. May also refersto religious parody in his article"A Narrative Conceit in La vida del Buscon," MLR, LXIV (1969), 327-333.

literary time in the cueva de montesinos

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