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This chapter attempts to show how the comic mentality in Spain during 1600 unified the contrasting positions adopted by Miguel de Cervantes and his contemporaries. It suggests that the Spanish comic genre was able to overcome the crisis around 1600 because of Mateo Alemán's publication of the picaresque classic Guzman de Alfarache, the lifting of the ban on the comedia, and the socio-genetic and ideological pressures of the period. This chapter contends that the fiction written by Cervantes during this period was a reaction to existing social and cultural conditions.

This chapter examines the evolution of Spanish attitudes to comic fiction during the period from 1550 to 1600 in relation to the works of Miguel de Cervantes. It analyses the historical movements of taste, manners, and thought during this period. It contends that the change and evolution of Spanish comedy was influenced by socio-genetic factors that are expressions of a collective comic mentality or mind-set. These factors consist of shared, inter-subjective thoughts such as concepts, value, and intuitive assumptions.

This chapter examines the implications of the socio-genetic and ideological factors that brought about the evolution of Spanish attitudes towards comic fiction for three Spanish writings published between 1596 and 1624. These writings include Alonso Lopez Pinciano's Philosophia antigua poetica, Gaspar Lucas Hidalgo's Dialogos and Tirso de Molina's Cigarrales de Toledo. This chapter suggests that these works were significantly influenced by the new comic ethos in terms of style and content.

This chapter focuses on two contemporary editorial projects promoting cultural relations between Spain and Portugal: Minotauro, published by Edições 70, and Confluências, published by Kalandraka. These are the very first Portuguese book series purposefully dedicated to literature written in Spain. The chapter carries out an analysis of both series, taking into account the criteria for title selection as well as the mission statement of each editorial coordinator. By resorting to the polysystem theoretical framework, it argues that Minotauro and Confluências seek to offer an ‘alternative repertoire’ that ranges from more canonical and traditional literature to contemporary narrative. The investigation also stresses the role of cultural producers and mediators (publishers, editors, and critics) in making ‘new’ literary Iberian repertoires accepted in Portugal.