Luciana's Story: Text, Travel, and Interpretation in the Libro de Apolonio

Abstract

Much of the criticism on the Libro de Apolonio has focused on the identification of the mester de clerecía authors who produced this and other cuaderna via poems with the protagonist Apolonio, but a close analysis of the interaction between textuality and travel reveals a stronger connection between these authors and the little-studied character Luciana. Luciana's skills at reading, writing, and interpretation are unmatched among the characters of the poem, and her journey in the company of a text further strengthens her association with the written word. The narrative is permeated with pilgrimage imagery, and the fact that Luciana's traveling-companion text becomes both a pilgrim and a relic presents this kind of spiritual travel as a multivalent metaphor for textual interpretation. This examination of Luciana's involvement with the written word provides a more balanced view of writing, interpretation, and gender in the Libro de Apolonio.

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