I. Aucto primero
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A complete tragicomedy in dialogue for B2
La Celestina La Celestina
Fernando de Rojas, 1913
Fernando de Rojas’s complete tragicomedy, not an adaptation: the full text in 21 autos (acts), in the spelling of a 1913 edition. In the catalog it is B2: about 66,300 words and 13 words per sentence on average. Calisto, in love with Melibea, hires the go-between Celestina, and the story runs almost entirely in dialogue; chapter I also holds the prologue and the argument. The catalog also has a B1 retelling of this work in simpler Spanish.
- B2
- 66 251 words
- 11-18 hours
Will this text hold?
B1
Earlier
At B1 the old spelling (aucto, assí, vna) and the long speeches will slow you down, and the retelling in this catalog is the gentler start.
B1B2
This text
You can manage it at B2: the lines are short and the scenes are clear, so you can read an auto at a time and translate the odd word; the prologue and the long monologues need a second pass.
Check this passageC1
With room to spare
At C1 the tragicomedy reads freely: only the classical allusions, the proverbs and the old forms of 15th-century Spanish still slow you down.
Start readingThe average sentence has 13 words, because the whole work is dialogue: servants, lovers and the go-between trade short lines, with the occasional long speech such as Celestina’s monologue at the start of the fourth auto. Words of 9 letters or more make up 6.9% of the text. The autos run from about 10 to 17 words per sentence; chapter I, which carries the prologue and the argument, is the densest at 8.9% long words. That is close to Niebla (B2, 13 words per sentence) and far from Don Quijote (C2, 43). What adds work is the old spelling and vocabulary (aucto, assí, vna, haueys), not sentence length. The B1 retelling (12 words per sentence, about 12,100 words) is the easier way in. Hence B2. This is the catalog’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 66 251
- words
- 13
- words in an average sentence
- 11-18
- hours of reading
- 1913
- La Lectura
La Lectura, 1913. Wikisource
What it is about, without the ending
Calisto, a young nobleman, follows his falcon into a garden and finds Melibea, who rejects him sharply. Sick with love, he listens to his servant Sempronio, who sends him to Celestina, an old go-between with a dozen trades and a house full of girls. Celestina wins over Calisto’s other servant, Pármeno, and goes to work on Melibea, while greed, loyalty and desire pull everyone around them in different directions. How far the scheme goes, and what it costs them, is not revealed here.
Compare two places
La Celestina
IV. El aucto quarto
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.- , , , , . , , , . , . . , ; . , , .
Choose an underlined word.
Old spelling, modern meaning
The spelling is that of the 1913 edition: atreuimiento is atrevimiento, tollerar is tolerar, aduersa is adversa, and u often stands for v (haueys is habéis). Read the sounds, not the letters, and the lines become familiar. Notice Melibea’s sharp “¡Vete!, ¡vete de ay, torpe!” (“Go away, you boor!”): the rejection that sets the whole story in motion.
Pronouns glued to the verb
Poseellas and esperallas are poseerlas and esperarlas: in the older language the r of the infinitive melts into the l of the pronoun. Dessea, moçedad and quasi show the same taste for doubled and unusual letters. Celestina’s point is that old age brings rest, like an inn for a tired traveller, so the long sentence is easy to follow once you spot the comparison.
Chapters
- IAucto primero
- IIEl segundo aucto
- IIIEl tercer aucto
- IVEl aucto quarto
- VEl aucto quinto
- VIEl aucto sesto
- VIIEl sétimo aucto
- VIIIEl octavo aucto
- IXEl aucto noveno
- XEl décimo aucto
- XIEl aucto onzeno
- XIIEl aucto dozeno
- XIIIAucto trezeno
- XIVAucto quatorzeno
- XVAucto dézimoquinto
- XVIAucto décimo sesto
- XVIIAucto décimo séptimo
- XVIIIAucto décimo octavo
- XIXAucto décimonono
- XXEl veyteno aucto
- XXIVeynte e un aucto
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
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In Celestina’s speech in the fourth auto, “Loco es, señora, el caminante que, enojado del trabajo del día, quisiesse boluer de comienço la jornada...”, a long aside separates the subject from its verb, so translating the whole sentence in Reader shows how the thought is built.
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Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
It is the original, not a learner’s abridgement: Fernando de Rojas’s complete tragicomedy, with the prologue, the argument, all 21 autos and the author’s closing verses. The text is the Spanish Wikisource transcription of Julio Cejador’s 1913 edition (La Lectura, Madrid) and keeps its old spelling. The letter “El autor a un su amigo” and the acrostic verses that some editions print are not part of this transcription. The work was first published in 1499; the 21-act Tragicomedia is its expanded form.
Is there an audiobook?
La Celestina has no audiobook on MovaReader: here the work is read on screen. The translation appears when you tap a word, and you will need it most for old forms and bookish words such as atreuimiento or poseellas.
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. It helps most in the long speeches, for example Celestina’s “Loco es, señora, el caminante que, enojado del trabajo del día, quisiesse boluer de comienço la jornada...”, where an aside separates the subject from its verb. Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
The whole work takes about 11-18 hours: the pace of someone reading with translation of new words, slower than a native speaker’s. The 21 chapters run from about 1,300 to 5,700 words, and chapter I, with the prologue and the argument, is the longest at about 10,700 words, so one or two autos make an evening.
Where does the text get easier?
It is fairly even. Chapter I, with the prologue and the argument, is the densest at 8.9% long words; after it the autos run at about 10 to 17 words per sentence, and the later ones are a little longer-sentenced. The longest sentences come in the speeches, such as Celestina’s monologue at the start of the fourth auto.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. Once you sign in, the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened, so you can come back to La Celestina every evening where you left off. Any of the 21 chapters also opens from the contents on this page, for example chapter IV.