Sex, Hymen Procuresses, and Medieval Spain

Posted on March 15, 2010 by

title=tragicomediaThese are all things that you will find in La Celestina, which award-winning translator Peter Bush will be reading from and discussing at our event on March 31. To get you in the right mood for this sort of thing, we'll be serving wine, and then get ready for:


The book, divided into twenty-one dialogues in prose, was not meant to be a play, but it boasts the tempo of well-timed drama. The plot is simple enough: Celestina is a procuress who restores hymens and sells the body of young maidens as virgins – over and over again. She is hired by the wealthy Calisto to mediate between him and the beautiful bourgeois Melibea.

First published in 1499, the book is considered by many second only to Don Quixote in Spanish literature. As a classic, it's been translated numerous times, and has even been made into a movie. As we get closer to the event, we'll be talking a little here at Two Words about Celestina as a retranslated work, as well as what Bush has done differently from previous translators.
(Note, this review referenced above covers a different translation than Peter Bush's, which is publishing this spring from Penguin Classics.)