SOURCE: Sasaki, Betty. “Góngora's Sea of Signs: The Manipulation of History in the Soledades.” Calíope 1, nos. 1-2 (1995): 150-68.

In the following essay, Sasaki argues that the obscurity of the language in the Soledades, which forces readers to “contend with the complexities of the text in the activity of reading,” represent Góngora's effort to reflect the instability of the Spanish political situation.

The Spanish Baroque is a conflicted and confusing moment in Spanish history—one in which Spain finds itself at the crossroads between traditional, societal organization and early modern politics. The decline of imperial power, and the subsequent economic and political crises which overtook Spain, gave rise to opposing views on expansion. As many literary critics and historians have noted, the state responded by imposing more rigid restrictions on writers and their work in an attempt to create one “official” discourse constructed upon the eradication...