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November 25, 1562

 

Félix Lope de Vega (November 25, 1562 to August 27, 1635) was a contemporary of Cervantes, who called Lope de Vega "The Phoenix of Wits." Together they defined a golden age of Spanish literature. One of the playwright's later works was a "burlesque epic called The Battle of the Cats." Lope de Vega published this poem, which has a feline heroine, Zapaquilda, in 1634. 


According to a modern explication, the point of the parody, La Gatomaquia, was the "chasm between the ideal and the reality of those imperialist practices" which used medieval epic descriptions to justify an aristocratic assumption of power in early modern Spain. Such is the thesis of Barbara Simerka (assistant professor of hispanic studies at Queens College, CUNY), in her 2008 book, Discourses of Empire: Counter-Epic Literature in Early Modern Spain.


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