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La República de las Letras: De escribanos y letrados a escribientes y lectores
Abstract
Historians generally accept that after the introduction of the movable type printing
press, literacy expanded broadly, but rarely do researchers stop to ask why. The simple
fact of easier access to the written word does not explain why more people all of
a sudden began learning to read and write, long before the advent of any government-run
programs of elementary education.
In Spain during this period (from the late 15th through the 18th centuries) literacy
was already fairly well-documented among the clergy and aristocracy, with significant
increases in literacy occurring in the developing merchant class, artisans and skilled
workers, and urban and rural laborers, all groups in society for which there is classically
little documentation. In fact, most urban and rural laborers only learned to read
and not to write, meaning that they couldn’t leave behind documents explaining their
motivations, and though self-referential works do exist for merchants, artisans, and
skilled workers, they rarely address the individual’s desire to learn.
Given the dearth of primary sources that can offer qualitative information, a number
of investigators have turned to a wide variety of secondary sources, including analyses
of period literature that offer representations of these groups and their engagements
with literacy, but a genre of sources that has been underutilized is that of instructional
books printed at this time that taught people how to read, write, and do basic arithmetic,
alongside myriad more advanced skills. The texts that this research investigated included
tracts on grammar, spelling, calligraphy, common dialogue and vocabulary, and the
history and etymology of the Spanish language. Their publication dates ranged from
1492 to 1692, and most of them have not been reprinted in modern editions. Due to
this fact, the original versions of these texts were consulted in the National Library
of Spain, in Madrid. Through a careful analysis of stated authorial intent, diction,
and the level of content presented, as well as situating each work firmly within the
context of Spain during the Early Modern Period, this research investigates the role
of literacy in the creation of identity. Focus is directed towards the construction
of national, individual, and authorial identities, and how the skills involved in
literacy, specifically reading and writing, relate to each of these groups.
My argument proceeds through an analysis of the importance of literacy to each of
the above groups. Chapter 1 focuses on aprobaciones and licencias, documents written
by government officials, as well as the letters dedicated to government officials
written by the authors, to explore how literacy was believed to impact national identity.
Chapter 2 transitions to focus primarily on the prologues to the reader in order to
discover the perceived benefits of literacy to individuals. Chapter 3 explores how
the authors of these works constructed their own identity and authority. In sum, these
instructional books indicate that the skills of reading and writing are tools necessary
for the construction of an identity, but that they are not integral aspects of identity
for any of the three groups. Without literacy, a full identity, as defined by the
standards set out in these texts, cannot be realized. With literacy, though, an identity
that fully participates in society is possible, but it is defined according to the
uses of literacy, and not the fact of literacy in itself.
Type
Honors thesisDepartment
Romance StudiesPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14282Citation
Brissette, Benjamin (2017). La República de las Letras: De escribanos y letrados a escribientes y lectores. Honors thesis, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/14282.Collections
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