The appropriation of oriental patterns in the exemplary tales of «El conde Lucanor»

Abstract

This paper questions the place occupied by oriental models in the narrative and ideological construction of the exemplary tales of El conde Lucanor. It offers successively an analysis of the literary pattern of the examples, partly inherited from Arabic works, a comparative study of three tales with their respective sources, from Calila and Dimna, and a reflection on the representation of oriental culture in the work of Don Juan Manuel. It suggests that the author’s interest in these cultural models is part of a discursive strategy whose goal is to lay the foundations for domination and, at the same time, promote and celebrate a system of values intrinsically linked to nobility.