A modo de conclusión: Imitation and the Future of the modus

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 6 concludes the book with reflections on the nature of the imitative relationships involved in this literary reappropriation of a philosophical commonplace. It summarizes peculiar complexities that condition the reception of the mean and the discussion in this book. These include: the importance of intermediary texts for the doctrine’s reception, and the need to take account of these when exploring early modern engagements with the doctrine, rather than having recourse simply to Aristotle’s account; the delicate balance of sameness and difference that allows literary texts to thrive as they rework and respond to particular strands of the mean’s reception; and the complication of having to deal with influences and models from both literary and philosophical tradition, as the case studies demonstrate the need for a reader to isolate which aspects of a tradition are relevant for any given work—looking both at the multifaceted ethical tradition outlined here, and at a work’s particular generic heritage. The second part of the chapter then combines with Chapter 2.7 to suggest how the account of the mean’s reception and critical toolkit for literary interpretation offered in this book might be taken forward in future work. These include, for example, extending the study of mythology to other figures linked to facets of the mean; extending the study of drama to other plays which foreground the vices staged in El médico; and extending the discussion of the mean in literary parodies, with useful examples already in Góngora’s poetry and in Don Quixote.