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La Celestina

by Fernando de Rojas, Juan Manuel Rodriguez

3.41 · rating details · 697 ratings · 33 reviews

In a 15th-century Spanish city, old Celestina manipulates the love lives of rich and poor alike, always to her own advantage. Now she has decided to make Melibea fall in love with Calisto. What lies and sorcery will she use? Will she succeed?

Paperback, 260 pages

Published December 1st 1999 by iUniverse (first published 1499)

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Apr 16, 2011

Joselito rated it

· review of another edition

For about a month they have been having sex clandestinely at night, inside Malibea's room, right under the noses of her unsuspecting parents. To get to her room Calisto has to climb up a steep ladder carried to the site every night by his servants. During this last night, after three exhausting but blissful encores, Calisto heard a commotion outside. Rushing to check what it was, suspecting his servants may be in trouble, he slipped off the ladder and fell to his death, his head split into three...more

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Mar 31, 2010

Talia is currently reading it · review of another edition

I just bought the book today, after hearing the translator, Peter Bush, speak about his experiences and intents with this translation. He also compared his translation to others, and talked about the author (a law student, Jewish convert to Catholicism during the Inquisition) and the literary environment at that time. Interestingly, de Rojas never wrote another book; possibly because this one portrays the church in a bad light. Also he wrote this book for professional readers who would read s...more

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Nov 07, 2011

Jay rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: literature-spanish

“La Celestina” sits between the last gasps of the Middle Ages and the first breaths of the Renaissance. Written for the most part by a 25 year old graduate of the Universidad de Salamanca, it also stands slightly behind “Don Quijote” in Castile’s novelistic rankings. It is still, over 500 years after its composition in 1499-1502, a masterpiece of Western literature. Arguably, it also could lay claim (according to Otis Green in his” Spain and the Western Tradition”) to being the first novel or “t...more“La Celestina” sits between the last gasps of the Middle Ages and the first breaths of the Renaissance. Written for the most part by a 25 year old graduate of the Universidad de Salamanca, it also stands slightly behind “Don Quijote” in Castile’s novelistic rankings. It is still, over 500 years after its composition in 1499-1502, a masterpiece of Western literature. Arguably, it also could lay claim (according to Otis Green in his” Spain and the Western Tradition”) to being the first novel or “truly dramatic work produced in modern Europe.”

The story is the universal one of passionate love won and lost. Calixto, a young nobleman in hot pursuit of his falcon, finds himself in the garden of Pleberio and eyeball to eyeball with Pleberio’s daughter, Melibea. Instantly smitten, he declares himself mesmerized by her beauty and unworthy of her love; she agrees, telling him in no uncertain words to bug off.

Calixto returns to his home where his servant, not at all oblivious to his master’s “mental aberration” (Ottis Green), proposes a solution to what, at this point, is unrequited love. [“Loco está este me amo” says Sempronio.] Enters the old bawd Celestina whom Calixto employs to soften Melibea’s heart.

Celestina, described as a bearded lady, is a piece of work. In addition to running a brothel, she is a purveyor of drugs and creams that cure all imaginable defects and conditions. She knows magic and is in touch with the supernatural. She is also a seamstress—a cover for her other arts but also a talent that allows her to repair maidenheads by sewing small bladders into the broken membrane. [She sold the French ambassador “one of her wenches three times a virgin.”]

Ostensively a seamstress, she is able to gain entrance into any number of places, monasteries and homes. And, using that ability, she visits Melibea, learning that Melibea, too, in spite of her initial claims to the contrary, is equally smitten with Calixto.

It would seem that love among the nobility and the lower classes is never easy even in the XIV Century. Calixto, overjoyed with Celestina’s success, rewards her with a gold chain. But Calixto’s servants believe that they, too, should share in the reward. When Celestina refuses to share, they kill her. They in turn, captured before they can escape, are summarily beheaded by the law.
But Calixto is essentially oblivious to the fates of the underclass. He and Melibea begin a month long affair—a nightly, amorous encounter in the garden of Melibea’s parents –with little though to things beyond their own pleasures. However, in leaving one night, Calixto falls off of the wall and dies instantly. Melibea, distraught, kills herself by jumping off a tower.

On one level, the author purports his work to be a lesson on the wages of sin. But here “sin” is not sex but unbridled self-interest. Vividly reflected in “La Celestina” is the social world of a new, a modern age wrapped in an emerging capitalism. Fernando de Rojas moves his characters in an urban world were new social constructs are emerging to define the relationships between and among the classes. Notes Juan Goytisolo in his preface to Peter Bush’s excellent English translation: “Pleberio’s distraught invective against ‘the deceitful fairground of life’ [after he sees his daughter fall to her death] take [sic] on a disturbing slant when read in the light of the ceaseless decline of democratic, humanist values of solidarity in today’s global village, shop or casino, where the only law is the immediacy of profit. Does human life exist outside the laws of the market, or is it just one more product for sale?”

It would seem that the world of “La Celestina” is no different than our world today and the answer to Goytisolo’s question is the same in 2011 as it would have been in 1499.(less)

· see review

May 31, 2011

Jay rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: literature-spanish

“La Celestina” sits between the last gasps of the Middle Ages and the first breaths of the Renaissance. Written for the most part by a 25 year old graduate of the Universidad de Salamanca, it also stands slightly behind “Don Quijote” in Castile’s novelistic rankings. It is still, over 500 years after its composition in 1499-1502, a masterpiece of Western literature. Arguably, it also could lay claim (according to Otis Green in his” Spain and the Western Tradition”) to being the first novel o...more“La Celestina” sits between the last gasps of the Middle Ages and the first breaths of the Renaissance. Written for the most part by a 25 year old graduate of the Universidad de Salamanca, it also stands slightly behind “Don Quijote” in Castile’s novelistic rankings. It is still, over 500 years after its composition in 1499-1502, a masterpiece of Western literature. Arguably, it also could lay claim (according to Otis Green in his” Spain and the Western Tradition”) to being the first novel or “truly dramatic work produced in modern Europe.”

The story is the universal one of passionate love won and lost. Calixto, a young nobleman in hot pursuit of his falcon, finds himself in the garden of Pleberio and eyeball to eyeball with Pleberio’s daughter, Melibea. Instantly smitten, he declares himself mesmerized by her beauty and unworthy of her love; she agrees, telling him in no uncertain words to bug off.

Calixto returns to his home where his servant, not at all oblivious to his master’s “mental aberration” (Ottis Green), proposes a solution to what, at this point, is unrequited love. [“Loco está este me amo” says Sempronio.] Enters the old bawd Celestina whom Calixto employs to soften Melibea’s heart.

Celestina, described as a bearded lady, is a piece of work. In addition to running a brothel, she is a purveyor of drugs and creams that cure all imaginable defects and conditions. She knows magic and is in touch with the supernatural. She is also a seamstress—a cover for her other arts but also a talent that allows her to repair maidenheads by sewing small bladders into the broken membrane. [She sold the French ambassador “one of her wenches three times a virgin.”]

Ostensively a seamstress, she is able to gain entrance into any number of places, monasteries and homes. And, using that ability, she visits Melibea, learning that Melibea, too, in spite of her initial claims to the contrary, is equally smitten with Calixto.

It would seem that love among the nobility and the lower classes is never easy even in the XIV Century. Calixto, overjoyed with Celestina’s success, rewards her with a gold chain. But Calixto’s servants believe that they, too, should share in the reward. When Celestina refuses to share, they kill her. They in turn, captured before they can escape, are summarily beheaded by the law.

But Calixto is essentially oblivious to the fates of the underclass. He and Melibea begin a month long affair—a nightly, amorous encounter in the garden of Melibea’s parents –with little though to things beyond their own pleasures. However, in leaving one night, Calixto falls off of the wall and dies instantly. Melibea, distraught, kills herself by jumping off a tower.

On one level, the author purports his work to be a lesson on the wages of sin. But here “sin” is not sex but unbridled self-interest. Vividly reflected in “La Celestina” is the social world of a new, a modern age wrapped in an emerging capitalism. Fernando de Rojas moves his characters in an urban world were new social constructs are emerging to define the relationships between and among the classes. Notes Juan Goytisolo in his preface to Peter Bush’s excellent English translation: “Pleberio’s distraught invective against ‘the deceitful fairground of life’ [after he sees his daughter fall to her death] take [sic] on a disturbing slant when read in the light of the ceaseless decline of democratic, humanist values of solidarity in today’s global village, shop or casino, where the only law is the immediacy of profit. Does human life exist outside the laws of the market, or is it just one more product for sale?”

It would seem that the world of “La Celestina” is no different than our world today and the answer to Goytisolo’s question is the same in 2011 as it would have been in 1499.
(less)

· see review

Oct 23, 2011

John David rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction

This review may contain spoilers.

“Celestina” is one of those literary peculiarities that you might not have had the pleasure to be introduced to if you had not taken a course in Spanish literature. I first ran across the title in the Dedalus European Classics series, which has a lot of similarly obscure and wonderful things, including Georges Rodenbach and Gustav Meyrink. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that a more mainstream publisher like Penguin had the same translatio...moreThis review may contain spoilers.

“Celestina” is one of those literary peculiarities that you might not have had the pleasure to be introduced to if you had not taken a course in Spanish literature. I first ran across the title in the Dedalus European Classics series, which has a lot of similarly obscure and wonderful things, including Georges Rodenbach and Gustav Meyrink. I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that a more mainstream publisher like Penguin had the same translation, by Peter Bush.

Celestina, the local procuress and alchemic mage, makes a living off of restoring the hymens of previously deflowered young girls so that they may be marriageable again. The rich noble Calisto has fallen in love with Melibea, yet it is wholly unrequited. He enlists Celestina to fix this, and through some crafty manipulation she eventually succeeds. Two of Calisto’s servants, Parmeno and Sempronio, promise to offer their own services to Celestina if she will split Calisto’s payment three ways. Parmeno starts out being honest, telling Calisto that Celestina is nothing but a money-hungry crook, but eventually gives up when he sees how hopelessly in love Calisto really is. Once Celestina refuses to pay them, everything starts to go horribly, horribly downhill. What read for the first two-thirds as a bawdy comedy turns into a bloodbath on par with “Hamlet.” The label tragicomedy seems especially appropriate here, having equal measures of both.

The plot is fast-paced and easy to follow. It is divided into twenty-one short, heavily dialogue-driven chapters that read very much like a play (even though it was apparently never mean to be staged). Throughout, the best advice is given through numbing, stultifying bromides, and this is especially true of Celestina. You can almost open the book randomly and find clichés, though the humor of the characters still manages to jump off the page.

Simone de Beauvoir wrote a beautiful description of Celestina in “The Coming of Age.” She wrote, “This was the first time that an old woman had appeared as the main heroine; in the traditional way she was of course a bawd, but a bawd of dimensions quite unlike those of any character who had yet been produced. She was a former whore who had stayed in the trade because she liked it, a self-seeking, lewd, and intriguing old woman, and something of a witch as well – the leading, most active character in the play [though play, as I noted above, is not the right word for this piece]. In her are summed up all the vices that had been attributed to the old women since classical times, and in spite of all her shrewdness she ends by being severely punished. The French theatre turned to this source of inspiration, but with less striking results: we find old bawds and prostitutes in Jodelle, Odet de Turnebe, and Larivey.”

The reader gets the feeling that, when it was first published at the very end of the fifteenth century, “Celestina” was meant first and foremost to be a savage critique of the reigning morality of the time. While it has lost its critical punch, it is still full of characters, ideas, and bawdy that make it enjoyable, humane, and lovable. Since it was written before most modern-day genres had the chance to fully gel, the style takes getting used to; it cannot be easily pegged down, like we do more easily with Cervantes and Shakespeare, who in theme and style and both heavily foreshadowed here (especially the former).

I can’t read Spanish, so I can’t comment on the original. However, I can recommend Peter Bush’s translation to anyone who is looking for a unique reading experience far off the beaten path. (less)

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Dec 09, 2009

Leo rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: spanish-literature

This play was written by Fernando Rojas in the year 1499. It is a wonderful play about love and tragedy. Calisto fell in love with Melibea who was a beautiful young woman who would inherit a great fortune from her father. Calisto was rich and paid Celestina, an old astute witch of a woman, money so she could make Melibea love him.
Calistos servants, Sempronio and Parmoneo were in cohuts with Celestina but she kept all the gold for herself. When she defaulted on her deal Sempronio kills h...more

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Nov 10, 2011

Audrey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, graduate-school, medieval, spanish, comprehensive-exam

Pienso que me tolerancia para historias melodramaticas esta aumentando, porque este libro (como El Carcel de Amor) me daba risa mas que me enojaba. Desde luego, hay criticos que dicen de ambos libros que son parodias. Tal vez es por eso que me gustan. Da un retrato interesante de la clase baja de la edad media (aunque casi todos los personajes son tipos). Es un retrato de la sociedad bastante pesimista, en que todos los personajes estan motivados por el sexo o por el dinero--normalmente los ...more

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Oct 12, 2010

DeLys rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-ve-taught

One of the "must reads" of Spanish literature, this book represents both the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance in Spain. The character of Celestina is the basis of one of the three literary types from Spanish literature, although with Don Quijote and Don Juan. I've taught it multiple times and am always amazed by how much my students resonate with the issues raised in the book.

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Dec 07, 2010

Isabel rated it

· review of another edition

Nunca me han gustado este tipo de libros, y menos cuando te hacen leerlos en el instituto. Pero pensé: "No puede ser tan malo". Pues me equivocaba.
La historia en sí no es que esté mal, pero es un libro que se hace muy pesado tanto por su vocabulario como por los monólogos que se montan los personajes (que luego resulta que no te enteras de nada). Será un clásico español y todo lo que se quiera, pero a mi se me ha hecho muy pesado terminar de leermelo.

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Mar 14, 2009

Ricardo rated it

· review of another edition

I am reading this once again as I teach it to my students this semester, and once again I am impressed by the shocking modernity of this extraordinary book. I'm also pleased to see how accessible Patricia Finch's edition is to advanced Spanish students. The text seems to be giving them a lot less trouble than it did me, when I read it for the first time.

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Aug 13, 2011

Pili rated it

· review of another edition

Lo estoy terminando, en la version "gordita"

Y pensar que muchos piensan que ser Celestina es buena onda....naaaaa! Celestina era putinga, brujilla, hacia abortos y era mas turbia que el Mapocho!

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Mar 23, 2010

Nacho rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: clásicos, españoles

Al principio se hace muy (pero que muy) cuesta arriba por el escollo del castellano antiguo y es difícil leer más de diez páginas de una tacada. Según vas acostumbrándote, cada vez influye menos y, al final, te dejas atrapar por la historia y por unos personajes que son memorables. Me ha encantado, pero, aun así, tengo que reconocer que varias veces he estado a punto de ceder a la tentación y dejarlo sin acabar en la estantería.

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Sep 13, 2011

Silvia Llopis rated it

· review of another edition

This character is full dramatic connotations, this old prostitute show us the world of the prostitute and the sale of the sentiments, through traps and lies.

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Aug 29, 2011

Daniel Domenech rated it

· review of another edition

The Spanish version of Romeo and Juliet, having arrived in fact over a century earlier. A good story overall, but one I'm not that fond of.

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Mar 14, 2011

Erika rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: instituto

No pude con él. Para el exámen pillé un resumen de internet. Quizá en un futuro lejano lo termine de leer.

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Mar 30, 2011

Marie-Frances Mozina rated it

· review of another edition

Nasty shit... hahaha I had to read this book when I was in high school

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Jul 19, 2009

Sara rated it

· review of another edition

For Iberian Religions. It was interesting enough as a read, just not my style.

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Jun 30, 2011

Liontinx rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: clásicos

Otro libro "leído" por obligación que me gustó más bien nada.

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Aug 26, 2010

Becca rated it

· review of another edition

If I remember correctly, this is the first novel ever written. I read it in the original Spanish ... back when I could read Spanish well enough to accomplish such a feat. It was surprisingly racy ... with a sex crazed matchmaker/witch as the main character. I don't remember the storyline as a whole, but definitely remember little scenes and morals. According to La Celestina, youth should not be wasted, making love relieves menstrual cramps, and men should never leave their women unattended (beca...more

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Dec 19, 2008

Kary added it · review of another edition

Lo leí por la escuela.

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Sep 29, 2009

Carolina rated it

· review of another edition

High school literature.

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Mar 22, 2011

Antony rated it

· review of another edition

really nice kind of boring book buy beyond that an amazing book...totally worth cheking out

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Sep 19, 2007

Javier rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: clasicos

Una víctima de las lecturas obligadas del instituto. Incluso entonces, cuando me concentraba en él, llegaba a la conclusión de que no estaba mal, así que me imagino que no sería un mal libro.
Cuantos clásicos se perdieron bajo la situación de una lectura rápida y anotada para hacer los trabajos pertinentes sobre él.

like 1 like

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Jun 13, 2009

Lindsay Wuchner rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: plays, spanish-novels

Este libro es muy interesante. Al principio, como Fuenteovejuna, fue difícil de entender, pero después de leer más, empecé a entender la trama y también los personajes. Fue muy interesante y muy atrevido por su época dadas las condiciones de la Inquisión en España.

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Sep 07, 2010

Adamo Lanna rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 400, letteratura-spagnola

Io dopo 30 pagine non ce la facevo più. Non sono il lettore modello per opere spagnole più vecchie di 500 anni. In genere tutto il '400 è come buttar giù la trippa dopo la lasagna. Non avrò mai un dottorato su Marsilio Ficino, state tranquilli.

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Jun 09, 2008

Mariana Orantes rated it

· review of another edition

Si quieres aprender a darle punch a un personaje, definitivamente tienes que leer y aprender de la Celestina. Es un gran libro y el planto de Pleberio, de mis partes favoritas. Soy un lugar común de estudiante de lepras, que mal.

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Aug 01, 2011

Isidro Rivera rated it

· review of another edition

Paradigmatic! Essential read!

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Nov 14, 2011

Laura rated it

· review of another edition

Hay que estar de humor para leerlo, llega a ser algo tedioso además de que está escrito en español antiguo.

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Mar 26, 2010

pRiscilLa VdL rated it

· review of another edition

reading it for a competition..it's interestingn when parmeno or semprenio talk

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Aug 19, 2007

bonniemoss13 rated it

· review of another edition

Great tragic comedy bridging the Middle Ages to the Spanish Renaissance.

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About Fernando de Rojas

Fernando De Rojas was a Castilian author about whom little information is known.

Fernando de Rojas is known for writing La Celestina (originally titled Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea) in 1499. It describes a tragic love affair, and is seen as the beginning of Spain's literary Renaissance. Although the work was published anonymously, the author revealed his name and famous birthplace...more

More about Fernando de Rojas...

Books by Fernando de Rojas

The beauty and good properties of women <otherwise Calisto and Melib a c. 1530>

Celestina: An Annotated Edition of the First Dutch Translation (Antwerp, 1550)

'La Celestine' in the French Translation of 1578 by Jacques de Lavardin

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Quotes from La Celestina

“O world, world when I was younger I thought there was some order governing you and your deeds. But now you seem to be a labyrinth of errors, a frightful desert, a den of wild beasts, a game in which men move in circles…a stony field, a meadow full of serpents, a flowering but barren orchard, a spring of cares, a river of tears, a sea of suffering, a vain hope.” — 2 people liked it

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