The Modern Spanish Edition and English Translation

The modern Spanish edition observes current norms in punctuation and spelling, although on occasion I opt to keep a more archaic-sounding word like “luengos” instead of “largos” (Copla 28). Expansions of shortened forms are indicated with brackets, because they affect meter, for example, “do[nde”],”nos[otros]. Brackets are also used to mark the very few additions to the text, for example, “vió debajo de la peña [a] Satilario,” or to complete a thought, “No he sabido [más de ella].

The translation of Carajicomedia into English is intended for scholars who are researching the cultural construction of sex in the medieval and early-Renaissance periods. It keeps some of the archaic flavor of Carajicomedia's style, but emphasizes a literal, rather than a poetical reading of the text. Although it divides each stanza into 8 lines as in the original, these lines do not always correspond with their placement in the Spanish poem, because their “hyperbata” can be an obstacle for the modern reader.

Spanish, then as now, is also more forgiving than English of changes of tense within a sentence or paragraph. The translation sometimes preserves this characteristic, particularly when it does not affect the meaning of the verses, but changes it at other times. It also occasionally suppresses the paratactic “y” that Carajicomedia uses for metrical and stylistic reasons. Finally, the personified “carajo” and “coño” are addressed by singular or plural masculine or feminine pronouns (“él,” “ella,” “ellos,” “ellas”) in the Spanish poem. I have changed these personal pronouns to “it” and “they” in the English translation, although information about gender is lost.

Parts of stanzas 20, 35, 42, 47, 82, 37, 39, 40, 45, 46, 49, 50, 51, 58, 59, 70, 71, 74, 81, 72, 79, in that order, were translated into French under the title Chronique scandaleuse des cités de la Castille à la fin du quinzième siècle (A Scandalous Chronicle of the Cities of Castile at the End of the Fifteenth Century) and printed in Brussels by Vital Puissant in 1871(?) and in 1879(?); see Fayt 1999 and 2006; Art, et al. These stanzas are dedicated to named prostitutes, and just enough is translated to identify them by name or nickname before translating their glosses.