f “Il libro nello specchio della estoria. La digressione troiana dell’Alexandre

In the first half of the thirteenth century the Libro de Alexandre contained the first Spanish narration of the War of Troy, inserted in the main plot as a tale told by Alexander himself to his soldiers. After a brief survey of the medieval tradition of Troy, the present article analyses the Trojan digression of the Alexandre from different points of view. The adaptation of the sources is described and the reasons which could have originated their selection are investigated. An attempt is then made to lighten the stylistic tone of the episode by comparing it with its main source, the Ilias latina, on the one hand, and with its adaptation in Alfonso el Sabio's General Estoria, on the other. Moving to the structural function of the digression within the Spanish poem, it is argued that the estoria troyana is a mise en abyme of the Libro, mirroring both the message and the communicative situation of the whole work. This analysis also allows one to approach some exegetic questions regarding the Spanish poem, such as the personality of the author, the purpose of the work and its mode of reception.