Dialogues

"The Dialogues written by Cristòfol Despuig in 1557 under the title Los col-loquis de la insigne ciutat de Tortosa offer a critical review of a host of issues that were topical at the time. The three speakers in the work--Livio, the knight from Tortosa; Fabio, the gentleman from Tortosa; and Don Pedro, the knight from Valencia--elegantly exchange their subtly contrasting views regarding politics, society and the Church as they stroll through the streets of the city Tortosa and sail along the Ebro. The main features of the dialogue, which typify the revival of the genre in the Renaissance, lie in the way it expresses differing opinions, creates multiple perspectives and constructs a consistent plot that imitates a spontaneous conversation whilst providing a structure for the speakers' reflections. Both the ways in which it articulates the discussion and the specific ideas that it allocates to its speakers make Despuig's Dialogues a text that exemplifies the Renaissance in Catalonia"--Introduction.