Cervantes’s entremeses as a system

Abstract

This work aims to point out that Cervantes’ eigth farces (entremeses), published in 1615, form a «system», according to the meaning that modern linguistics and de Saussure in particular give to this word. Starting from a thematic scheme published by Rafael Balbín Lucas in 1948, containing already «in nuce» all the elements of the system, we intend to stress the cohesion, both thematic and structural, of the Cervantes compilation.We particularly insist on the correspondences between the eight pieces that work at different levels: thematic, linguistic and narrative. Thematic and structural unity prove that the order of the eight plays was not accidental and obeys to the system’s law; that is to say, the smallest change in one of th elements influences the whole of the set. Therefore the system is a collection of correspondences for the reader to discover. They also add additional meaning to each play taken individually, so it works like the mechanism of connotation respect to denotation, according to Hjelmslev’s classic study.