Cristóbal de Castillejo and the american miracle: a parody of the tree of life and the syphilis referring to politics and court

Abstract

In this paper we approach the paradoxical praise not only of the tree of life, also known as guaiac –whose ‗miraculous‘ curative powers over syphilis were claimed during the Golden Age– but also of the illness itself in Cristóbal de Castillejo‘s Loor del palo de Indias estando en la cura dél as well as in some of his other writings. At the same time, we relate it with other authors, thus contributing to a new interpretative key regarding the Court.