Las predicaciones de un bufón: “A los pies de la Fortuna”, Romance de Quevedo a don Álvaro de Luna

Abstract

The topic of «privanza» was very important in the Spanish Literature of the 17th century. Don Alvaro de Luna represented the rise to power and the tragic fall of the «privados» or favourites. Quevedo wrote a poem around 1627 about the personality of the favourite in which he used his history to warn the Count duke of Olivares on the dangers of power. The buffoon adopts the role of a preacher and becomes the spokesperson of the author to give advice and recriminate the noble for his life. The critical and annotated edition of the «romance» will help us to know better Quevedo’s political and philosophical thought.