Quevedo’s Life of Pablo de Tarsia: an exceptional model in Golden Ages biographical production

Abstract

Quevedo’s Life of Pablo de Tarsia is a secular biography, sold alone, published in 1663 and reprinted in 1792. It was promoted by Quevedo’s heir and nephew, Pedro Aldrete. Biography was a successful genre in Golden Ages, but was reserved mostly for the clergy or prominent courtiers. There are therefore idiosyncrasies regarding the choice of protagonist that invite us to study the text further with a view to accounting for why it was written, the agency behind its creation, and the models the feed into the discourse.