''Blanquerna'' () is a

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

written between 1283 and 1285 by

Ramon Llull Ramon Llull (; c. 1232 – c. 1315/16) was a philosopher, theologian, poet, missionary, and Christian apologist from the Kingdom of Majorca. He invented a philosophical system known as the ''Art'', conceived as a type of universal logic to pro ...

. It chronicles the life of its

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

hero. It is the first major work of literature written in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

Structure

The novel is divided into five parts.

Robert M. Place Robert M. Place (born 1947) is an American artist and author known for his work on tarot history, symbolism, and divination. Work as an artist Place has worked since the 1970s as a sculptor, jeweler and illustrator. His sculpture has been exhibi ...

, ''Buddha Tarot'' (Llewellyn Worldwide: 2004), 56. Llull's ''Llibre d'Amic e d'Amat'' (''Book of the Friend and Beloved'') is often included as a semiautonomous section within ''Blanquerna''.Josiah Blackmore; Gregory S. Hutcheson, ''Queer Iberia: Sexualities, Cultures, and Crossings from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance'' (Duke University Press: 1999), 170.

Plot summary

The central character of the novel named after him, Blanquerna, was born to Evast and Aloma. Before marrying, Evast, a nobleman, had wanted to follow a religious life but at the same time wished to experience matrimony. He became a merchant after his marriage to Aloma, and he gives his son an education based on religious and philosophical pursuits. In the second part of the novel, Blanquerna confronts the same choice his father did: between a

celibate Celibacy (from Latin ''caelibatus'') is the state of voluntarily being unmarried, sexually abstinent, or both, usually for religious reasons. It is often in association with the role of a religious official or devotee. In its narrow sense, th ...

life and a married one. Blanquerna decides to become a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite ( adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a C ...

, which saddens his mother; she tries to have her son marry the beautiful Cana. But Blanquerna persuades Cana to become a nun, and she later becomes an abbess.Ramon Lull; E. Allison Peers (translator), ''Book of the Lover and the Beloved'' (Kessinger, 2003), 16. Blanquerna also faces sexual temptation in the form of a maiden named Natana. This second part includes a description of the seven sins. In parts three through five of the novel, Blanquerna, having chosen a religious life, becomes a

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...

(though he desires to become a hermit instead), and quickly becomes an

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

. In time, he is elected

pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. The road to the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

is not easy; Blanquerna is constantly faced with troublesome decisions and temptations, and he is not perfect. Indeed, Blanquerna "is made credible precisely because he is prone to make mistakes and to experience temptation, and in the end this gives him an authority which other authorities are obliged to recognize."Arthur Terry, ''A Companion to Catalan Literature'' (Boydell & Brewer, 2003), 14. Blanquerna's life takes him through widely varying places and social strata, from uninhabited forests and wildernesses to the dense

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

urban landscape of thieves and prostitutes, from interactions with young maidens to interactions with popes and emperors. As he matures, Blanquerna listens to the advice of a

jongleur A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

, a "wise fool" named Ramon. Blanquerna reforms the Church completely as pope, with Ramon’s help, and finally becomes the hermit he had always desired to be. As a hermit, he composes a book of meditations to help his fellow hermits defeat temptation: this is the ''Llibre d'Amic e d'Amat'', which consists of 365 love poems. This text "purports to offer the protagonist’s mystical confessions, based on personal experience and examples of '

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

preachers,' as a guide to contemplation within the apostolic

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book '' Utopia'', describing a fictional island soc ...

of a reform of contemporary

Christendom Christendom historically refers to the Christian states, Christian-majority countries and the countries in which Christianity dominates, prevails,SeMerriam-Webster.com : dictionary, "Christendom"/ref> or is culturally or historically intertwin ...

Selected verses

''27 The bird was singing in the garden of the Beloved. The Lover came and said to the bird: - If we don’t understand each other through language, let’s communicate through love, because your song represents my Beloved to my eyes.'' ''295 The Lover was in danger in the great sea of love; and he trusted his Beloved, who came to rescue him with tribulations, thoughts, tears and cries, sighs and sorrows, since the sea was one of love and also made to honour his principles.''

References

External links

''Blanquerna'', Chapter 24: En qual manera Natana fo eleta a abadessa
{{Authority control Medieval Catalan literature 13th-century novels Catalan-language novels

Structure

Plot summary

Selected verses

See also

References

External links