The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc | Page 5

Or anyone more villainous than the odious Widow
Repose -- a figure stamped indelibly on our minds, wearing her
ridiculous red stockings and hat in the bath.
As Cervantes says: "In (Tirant lo Blanc) knights eat and drink, sleep
and die in their own beds, and make their wills before they die..." And
his praise for Tirant is also borne out by the characters in the Quixote.
For in many of that book's most memorable episodes, they too eat and
drink (and regurgitate), they sleep (when someone or something does

not awaken them to a new adventure), Don Quixote makes out his will
(to the contentment of some of the beneficiaries), and finally he dies in
his bed (and Cervantes warns us that no one should try to revive him:
"For me alone Don Quixote was born, and I for him... We two alone are
as one." This identification of the author with his work was felt no less
keenly by Martorell. As he says in his dedication: "And so that no one
else may be blamed if errors are found in this work, I, Johanot
Martorell, knight, alone wish to bear the responsibility, and no one else
with me, for this work has been set down by myself alone..."
If Don Quixote's Dulcinea did not exist until she took form in his (or in
Cervantes') mind, or the windmill that was a giant, or the Cave of
Montesinos, they have now come into existence in the mind of every
reader of that novel. So may Tirant and his men, the princess, the
emperor, Plaerdemavida, also come to life alongside the gentle and not
so gentle folk of Cervantes, in every reader's imagination. Let me leave
the reader with these words about Tirant lo Blanc by Cervantes: "Take
him home and read him, and you will see that what I have said of him
is true." (12)
Finally, a word about this English translation which brings Martorell's
work full circle, back into the English language from which he says he
has translated it. My work was begun in 1976, and completed in 1982.
Shortly afterward, the English translation by David Rosenthal appeared,
which includes most of the "philosophical discourses, speeches", etc.
that I have purposefully omitted. So my translation lay unmolested in a
box during these past several years while the computer has been
developing at breakneck speed, now allowing this great 15th century
novel to be read, electronically, throughout the world. (What would
Joanot Martorell say...?) And more "finally", thanks to the many people
who have supported me on this project and on others in the past: To
Walter Pattison who awakened me to the excitement and beauty of
Spanish literature; to my late friend, Arturo Serrano Plaja, who made a
valiant attempt to refine my taste, and who guided me throughout the
years; to my many colleagues and friends at the University of
Minnesota; and also to good memories of several of my colleagues at
UCLA: my dear friend, the late Richard Reeve, John Crow, the late
Donald Fogelquist, Julio Rodgriguez Puertolas, Enrique Rodriguez
Cepeda, Carlos Otero, Paul Smith, and of course the incredibly fine

man to whom I dedicate this translation, and who helped me in my
darkest hours: Jose Rubia Barcia. There being so many, if I have
neglected anyone in particular, I pray and know that they will be more
than understanding. Vale
Robert S. Rudder Claremont, California Nov. 1995

NOTES
(1) Primavera de la literatura europea (Madrid: Ediciones Guadarrama,
1961). p. 237.
(2) Don Quixote. Tr. Walter Starkie. (London: Macmillan, 1957), pp.
89-90.
(3) Tirant lo Blanc: A Study of Its Authorship, Principal Sources and
Historical Setting (N.Y.: AMC, 1966), pp. 159-60.
(4) David H. Rosenthal (N.Y.: Shocken, 1984). Ray La Fontaine (New
York: Peter Lange, 1993). Although Rosenthal's translation appeared in
print first, the fact is that La Fontaine's more complete translation
preceded it, lying in hibernation, much as my own manuscript, since
1974.
(5) Madrid: Alianza, 1969. Tr. by J. F. Vidal Jove. Introduction by
Mario Vargas Llosa. Also, further editions of the 1511 translation by
Martin de Riquer (1947-49; 1974) and by F. Buendia (1954).
(6) Henry Thomas, Spanish and Portuguese Romances of Chivalry
(Cambridge: University Press, 1920), pp. 32-33. It should also be noted
that El cavallero Cifar, although not in print until 1512, was probably
composed at the beginning of the 14th century. Amadis de Gaula, the
model for so many imitations, and not printed until 1508, was in
manuscript form in the 14th century.
(7) p. 277
(8) See the English translation by William Caxton: The Book of the
Ordre of Chyualry. Westminster: William Caxton, 1484? And reprinted
several times. For these and other medieval translations from the
Spanish, the reader may wish to consult my bibliography: The
Literature