Reivindicación y memoria en el "Poema de Fernán González"

The Poema de Fernán González is one of the most complete epic poems of the Spanish medieval period. Written within the scope of the mester de clerecía, the Poema exemplified a careful combination of popular and elevated registers, and used a number of resources aimed at reaching an audience, well acquainted with popular genres like the chansó or epic poetry (Baños 1997: xxxv). Despite being written compositions, the poems of the mester de clerecía would have been read out loud within monastic and university circles, lending themselves to a “lectura comentada” (Baños 2011: 235). presentation of the mester de clerecía poems would have lent itself to a progressive protagonism of the author, who would function not only as a producer of the written text, but also a commentator. For María Cristina Balestrial and Gloria Beatriz Chicote, the technique of the mester de clerecía implied a cultura practice where the technique of the epic poems would have been reinforced by the written text. The duality of the works of the mester de clerecía would then have allowed medieval writers to demonstrate their erudition through the inclusion of Latin sources and would have expressed a deliberate effort to educate its audience. The techniques borrowed from oral poetry would have allowed to convey the message in a more effective way: “Las fórmulas épicas remiten a la oralidad, pero se resignifican al compartir el espacio textual con elementos de raigambre culta” (Balestrini-Chicote 55). The mode of recitation (as opposed to the singing of Epic poem) would have resulted in what Grande Quejigo dubs as “retórica de autor” capable in turn of generating a hybrid genre (2000: 227).

- From the Introduction (The book is written in Spanish)