What is it about?
I look at examples from Spanish "romances" (ballads) and Anglo-American ballads, narrative poems that are sung and may have originated in the middle Ages. In those, I track how particular references to the way characters are dressed (or not) affect other characters' perceptions, perhaps the audience as well, as to their sinful behavior. Appearances are therefore a match for how people feel and act, though not always without error. Thus, I look at instances when a woman is disgraced by her transgressive looks, while men are usually condoned.
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Why is it important?
In scholarship on popular balladry, not enough attention has been paid to the common traits in Spanish and English oral traditions, particularly still existing taboos in both cultures and remnants that may still affect how we perceive people by the way they look.
Perspectives
A result of my PhD dissertation, research that was partly conducted in Spain and partly in the US, I am glad to see it in print and in a comparative literature journal. I hope you will find the article thought-provoking.
Dr Ana Belén Martínez García
Universidad de Navarra
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Sin of Pride in Dressing Bodies in Spanish and Anglo-American Ballads, CLCWeb Comparative Literature and Culture, September 2017, Purdue University (bepress),
DOI: 10.7771/1481-4374.3017.
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