f “Apuntes para el estudio del personaje medieval, II. ‘Et auri hic cibus est sapidus’ (Poetria nova, vv. 2060-2061): la voz”

In this second work devoted to the study of the medieval character I analyze the issue of voice, i.e., how the character’s words are quoted. Firstly, I consider how modern narratology has dealt with the medieval character’s voice and, secondly, how medievalism has examined this very same issue. In both cases, the main practice applied is a “retroreading” of medieval character from the parameters of the modern character’s voice. By means of a systematization of sententiarum and verborum exornationies (elocutio, a strange location that has contributed to the scant influence of these theories), I discuss the importance of actio, a real medieval “latent theory” when it comes to understanding how a character works. In this regard one can see the crucial importance of the changes produced by textual criticism in the voice of medieval characters.