James Mabbe

After its first known edition in 1499, La Celestina immediately became an international bestseller. The tragicomic love affair of Calisto and Melibea-brought about by the old bawd Celestina and the squalid underworld over which she presides-conjures up a social landscape dominated by anomie and change. The moral ambiguity that emanates from its realistic dialogues and urban prose style also constitutes one of its most remarkable achievements. The purpose of this edition is to facilitate access to Mabbe's translation in a modernized text. The introduction provides a succinct account of its Castilian origins and English reception as part of international networks of exchange. These networks included cultural agents engaged in the establishment of vernacular canons through the appropriation of alien literary capital. As they did so, these national traditions also sought to homogenize their respective linguistic communities into a commonwealth of speakers that could be used for the establishment of a comprehensive polity upon a common body of laws and social norms. As a forerunner of the picaresque-which also addresses the language and values that regulate the relations between self and society-The Spanish Bawd exposes the paradoxes of self-interest as the keystone for a life in common. Jos Mar a P rez Fern ndez is senior lecturer in English Literature and Cultural Translation at the University of Granada

Celestina is the most remarkable work produced in 15th century Spain and its influence has been enduring and profound. It is a prose dialogue divided into 21 'acts', starting in comedy and ending in tragedy. The main trigger of events is the passion conceived by the youth Calisto for the inexperienced Melibea. The ubiquitous, scheming, shrewd old hag Celestina attempts to exploit the emotions of the young people in scenes ranging from bedroom to brothel. The heightening tension eventually explodes in disaster for everyone. This complete and lavish edition brings both to students and the general public a masterpiece whose impostance in European literature is undisputed. Spanish text with facing-page translation, introduction and notes.