La espada, el rayo y la pluma explores the literary, cultural, and political relationships of Francisco de Quevedo (1580–1645), one of the major writers of the Spanish Golden Age. Inspired by Pierre Bourdieu’s social and cultural studies of the nineteenth-century French literary field, the book starts by establishing the birth and development of the first Spanish literary field circa 1600. By literary field, Gutiérrez means the emergence of writers as a distinctive social group with internal hierarchies and alliances that breed competition for the leadership of either popular or elite literary production. Next, the book focuses on the relationship between the literary field and the field of power (King, court at large, and Catholic Church hierarchy). Within that relationship, literature became a cultural, symbolic capital and served sometimes as an exchange currency between intellectual suppliers (writers such as Quevedo) and political and social demanders (Royal Favorite, Aristocracy, Catholic Church). Once the book establishes these social, literary, and political relationships, it examines the specific literary and political interaction that can be perceived in Quevedo's trajectory. As a result, La espada, el rayo y la pluma draws a seventeenth-century picture of the complex relations between Early Modern intellectuals such as Quevedo and the field of power.

"...a very erudite and well-illustrated, yet conceptually imaginative, analysis of Quevedo's work." William H. Clamurro, Emporia State University

"Gutiérrez acompaña al lector a estas interesantes conclusiones con un estilo claro y ameno, que alcanza momentos de brillantez. De hecho, contribuye decisivamente a explicar las teorías de Bourdieu en castellano.... las introducciones de Gutiérrez al funcionamiento del campo literario del siglo XVII, al ambiente de la época y a los entresijos de la corte, reúnen las raras virtudes de la claridad, el rigor y la gracia."— Antonio Sánchez Jiménez, Iberoamericana

For the full review see Iberoamericana 24.4 (2006): 218.

"... La espada, el rayo y la apluma es más que otro libro sobre Quevedo. No solo lee la obra quevediana en su conjunto desde una perspectiva nueva... para los estudios auriseculares, sino que intenta articular una teoría de sólida base para comprender varios aspectos de la literatura barroca espanola."—Fernando Rodríguez Mansilla, eHumanista

For the full review, see eHumanista 8.1 (2007?)

“Gutiérrez shows a great deal of flexibility and careful thought in adapting Bourdieu's analysis of the nineteenth-century French literary field to an examination of literature and power in seventeenth-century Spain...In fact, what is most satisfying about the present volume is the wide range of materials that Gutiérrez considers in his analysis.”—John Slater, Hispania

For the full review, see Hispania 90.1 (Mar. 2007): 65-66.

“La presente monografía ... nos ofrece, desde una óptica muy novedosa en los estudios sobre el Siglo de Oro y con una coherencia estructural admirable, un meditado y documentado retrato de las condiciones sociales, culturales, históricas y económicas del tercio inicial del siglo XVII en España, espacio en el que se forjó el primer campo literario español.” —Alejandra Ulla Lorenzo, La Perinola

For the full review, see La Perinola: Revista de Investigación Quevediana 11 (2007): 373-77.

For more reviews of this book, see:

Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 67 (2005).

Carlos M. Gutiérrez, University of Cincinnati, has published several studies on the Spanish Golden Age and Cervantine reception. He is currently working in a book-length study about Viaje del Parnaso and just finished Recurso al método (a book of short stories).

1-55753-361-X In Spanish.
2005. Vol. 32. x, 348 pp. Paper $43.95.

Para español

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