JUAN DE LA CUEVA'S LOS INVENTORES DE LAS COSAS

Cueva's long narrative poem on "The Inventors of Things" is here made accessible for literary, philological, and folkloric studies. Although the main contribution of Juan de la Cueva (c. 1550–1610) to the Spanish Golden Age was in the drama, the author-editors of this edition argue that the widespread negative view of Los Inventores de las Cosas stems largely from the previous lack of a reliable and informative edition. Professors Weiss and Perez offer a carefully edited text, a short biography of Cueva, a critical and textual introduction, a bibliography, and an annotated index (in effect a glossary) of persons, places, and things cited in the poem.

The text in the present edition is based primarily on the hitherto unpublished Madrid manuscript, with notes on all the variants from other manuscripts . The defects in the Lopez de Sedano edition (1774) are explicated, and Cueva's sources are identified and explained.

From a critical standpoint, the author-editors conclude that the Madrid manuscript is the complete and perhaps final version, that it reflects a thorough knowledge of rhetorical devices, and that Cueva's strong sense of form and rhythm save him when his inspiration seems to flag. Even though Cueva imitated Polydore Vergil's De Inventoribus Rerum, a comparison of the two works by Professors Weiss and Perez shows that the Spanish poet created his poem by weaving together carefully crafted lines and stanzas, in contrast to the sweeping approach of the Italian-English diplomat-historian.

Finally, from a folkloric viewpoint, Cueva's poem casts light on the interests of his contemporaries. Among the inventions treated are religious customs, herbs with magical or healing powers, Arabic grammar, women's attire and cosmetics, arithmetic, weights and measures, theatrical devices, and tree culture. Some passages are deliberately or unconsciously humorous in treating such inventions as aphrodisiacs (for man or beast), ways of fattening chickens, and the art of stealing.