215REVIEWS James Iffland. De fiestas y aguafiestas: risa, locura e ideología en Cervantesy Avellaneda. Madrid: Iberoamericana, 1999. 605 pp.Hidden within this massive, “exhaustive” (to use the author’s own word)consideration of three versions of Don Quijote in the light of Bakhtin’s theoryof the carnivalesque is a cogent, elegant interrogation of the relationshipbetween two works of complex, multifaceted genius (Cervantes’ Don Quijoteof 1605 and 1615) and another simpler, unidimensional one (Avellaneda’sSegundo tomo, 1614). It can be difficult, however, to discern the outline of thisdelicate and useful analysis through the dense theorizing that surrounds andnearly overwhelms it.De fiestas y aguafiestas consists of an Introduction, which establishes therationale for a comparative study of Cervantes and Avellaneda and distin-guishes Iffland’s approach from those of previous studies, principally thoseof Gilman and Aylward; three parts, which correspond roughly to theQuijotes of 1605, 1614, and 1615; and an epilogue that emphasizes Avellane-da’s dedication to generic decorum and the approval that such a stancereceived during the Neoclassical period that followed Cervantes’ ownBaroque.Iffland begins by asserting the importance of reading Avellaneda’sQuijote for understanding Cervantes’ obviously much greater accomplish-ment. The author correctly reasons that it makes no sense to scorn the lesserwork, since almost all other literary attempts suffer in comparison to theCervantine standard. Furthermore, Avellaneda’s version provides a clear ideaof how that of Cervantes was read in the seventeenth century: “estudiar aAvellaneda es estudiar la recepción contemporánea del Quijote” (17). Finally,cervantistas ought to read Avellaneda because the master himself did, and hisreading helped to shape the second part of his work: “Avellaneda influye enCervantes, es así de simple” (17).Iffland then explains how his interpretation of Avellaneda’s ideologicaldispute with Cervantes differs from Gilman’s, pointing out that, among otherthings, the eminent critic’s view of Avellaneda as operating within a traditionof asceticism reemphasized by the Counterreformation discounts the promi-216 REVIEWS Cervantesnence of obscene humor in the Segundo tomo, and implies a substantialecclesiastic, theological presence that the work itself does not portray. Iffland(correctly, in this reviewer’s opinion) finds the true difference betweenCervantes and Avellaneda in the sociopolitical and aesthetic, as opposed tothe theological realm. He argues that the latter’s avatars at the level of thefiction are the “caballeros de buen gusto” who make Avellaneda’s heroperform for their own collective enjoyment and who, in Iffland’s words, “ensu papel de ba luartes de la sociedad mon árquico-señorial se sienten amenaza-dos por cualquier artefacto cultural que pudiera contribuir siquiera unpoquito a la gran ebullición social de la época” (26). Thus, Avellaneda func-tions as an “intelectual al servicio de la nobleza terrateniente y de la monar-quía absoluta” (27).Iffland then enters into a microscopic examination of the three worksthrough the lens of theories of the carnivalesque in order to demonstrate thatCervantes’ 1605 Don Quijote was “una obra que emite resonancias desesta-bilizadoras” (34), which was bound to upset the status quo so valued byAvellaneda. According to Iffland, Cervantes portrays a carnivalesque worldof inverted social hierarchies, in which his hero clashes with both secular andecclesiastic authorities, and in which those of lower rank are permitted,indeed encouraged, to laugh at those supposedly above them. Ifflandidentifies this laughter with the concept of “Renaissance laughter” describedby Bakhtin, and sets in within the carnivalesqu e world with its roots in “lofestivo popular” (62). This permits the critic to associate Don Quijote with aseries of characters who appear in popular (which is to say, folk) festivalsthroughout European history, principally the carnival king, but also Saturn,the holy fool, the warrior-god, and the prophet. All of this is also related toDon Quijote’s reversible role as the loco/cuerdo, and to his mobility as a self-appointed caballero andante.Don Quijote’s practice of inventing new roles for others in the service ofhis chivalric project, Iffland argues, has the effect of “carnavalizando toda laestructura social a cada paso” (63), and both Sancho and Dulcinea play animportant part in this process. Sancho, like his master, functions as thecarnival king and embodies reversibility as the figure of the tonto/listo. Inaddition, those qualities traditionally associated with the stereotypicalpeasant—gluttony, drunkenness, contact with lower animals such as swineand asses, as well as the earth, and ignorance of social niceties with regard tosex and elimination—are highlighted as those celebrated by the popularfestivals termed collectively “carnival.” As for Dulcinea, as a peasant girlraised to the status of chivalric lady or princess, she becomes the mostextreme example of the “carnivalesque coronation” that Don Quijote per-forms throughout the first part of his story.In Part II, Iffland focuses on the divergence between the 1605 Don Quijoteand Avellaneda’s continuation, concentrating especially on the ideologicalmotivations for the “flattening” that the characters undergo. Central to his21.2 (2001) Reviews 217argument is the contrast between Cervantes’ laughter, which is characterizedas “polidireccional” (236), and Avellaneda’s, which “parte con preferenciadesde instancias aristocráticas o nobles, desde arriba para aba jo.” Iffland aptlycompares this supercilious and ubiquitous laughter to situation comedy“laugh tracks,” the purpose of which is to incite the audience to laughwhether the spectacle justifies it or not. He also highlights the differencebetween Don Quijote’s literary dreams of chivalric fame in Cervantes withAvellaneda’s hero’s social ambitions: “Este don Quijote, aunque loco, propo-ne un plan de acción que no dista mucho de lo que querría hacer cualquiertrepador cortesano de la época: ir a la corte—centro del poder—y buscarapoyos. Ya no se trata tanto de viajes a tierras lejanas, peleas contra gigantesy ejércitos inmensos, una vida ascética, llena de sufrimientos… Ha quedadoen forma desnuda el proyecto de ascenso social, siguiendo