Colloquium of the dogs

We get closer to the magnificent Exemplary novels by Miguel de Cervantes in the lesson of a TEACHER that begins here and that leads us to offer the short summary of Colloquium of the dogs, one of the series of novels that make up this work by the best Spanish writer of all time.

Curiously, and despite the fact that history already has several centuries since Cervantes wrote it, it is a peculiar approach to the world of fantasy and, why not say it, to science fiction, since, far ahead of its time, narrates the adventures of two dogs that, for one night, they receive the ability to speak, so they dedicate themselves to telling each other their sorrows and their experiences throughout their lives until they reach the situation in which the dialogue takes place.

Cervantes designs a elaborate fable that serves to speak of human corruption through the eyes of two dogs. Thus, he takes advantage of the story to draw without any sweetness the behaviors of characters from different social strata, detailing each scene with satirical talent. Do you think if we start? Go for it!

We begin with the short summary of the Colloquium of the Dogs, one of the stories belonging to the Exemplary novels by Miguel de Cervantes.

The author begins the narrative with a character he calls Peralta, who reads a book in which a certain Campuzano writes a conversation between two dogs named Cipión and Berganza. And this is how the history of both dogs begins, the last one being the one that narrates their vicissitudes throughout of his life and the first one who adds philosophical and profound comments to his partner's experiences canine.

So the story, we find the experiences of Berganza, who tells how since he was little he believes he was born in Andalusia as the dog of a master who works in a slaughterhouse, but belongs to a cruel man, so he is forced to flee from him.

Later, he ends up in the hands of a shepherd who makes him guardian of a flock. But he too ends this adventure and falls into the hands of a wealthy merchant who leads him to discover the environment of prostitution and robbery as a way of life in which he even suffers a bribery attempt by a maid.

Fearing revenge, Berganza flees and ends up in the hands of a bailiff first, and then some soldiers, to end up again in Montilla, an Andalusian town where the witch Cañizares discovers that she is a girl transformed into a dog by the work of another witch.

Escaped again by the turbulent situation unleashed, he ends up in a gypsy camp first, and then with a Moorish man, tired of suffering and dangers, escape to spend his last days in the Hospital of the Resurrection where he can enjoy some tranquility.

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This Cervantine novel is quite unique within its context. If we think about Exemplary novels, we remember stories that seem to have no beginning or end, but rather the author focuses rather on extract a part of the life of some characters and tell it in the context that each of these lasts newsrooms.

However, this is unique for its deep perspective, since humans are seen through the prism of dogs who guard the Hospital de la Resurrección de Valladolid who, for one night, have the ability to speak. It is as if the author wonders how other living beings see us, or even as if someone relatively alien to the human race judges us as a species.

That is This novel contains great complexity. In fable form, Cervantes creates two characters capable of drawing with their fine stylistic lines a sharp critique of the human condition and its easily corruptible morality. To do this, he does not shy away from any detail in his satire drawing the behaviors of people from all walks of life.

What's more, Cervantes is ahead of his time constructing a narrative seen from the point of view of two dogs whose approaches are deeply philosophical, intense and even with religious connotations.

Also in the final argument we find a certain irony, which adds even more complexity to the understanding of the story as a whole, since, In addition, the pictures and adventures narrated are at times crazy, almost unbelievable, very picturesque, but told with a very modern and understandable.

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