Traces of Sufi Thought in THE BOOK OF GOOD LOVE
These pages provide another reading that could elucidate some of the most insoluble enigmas that the Book of Good Love presents through a comparison of its primordial aspects with others inherent to the literature produced by Islamic mysticism.
The fundamental point of this proposal is the double similarity – in theme and in techniques – between the text of the Archpriest of Hita and Sufi literature. On the one hand, we have a common theme that is an attempt and a failure, outlined in the repeated amorous adventures and misadventures, both of the Archpriest and of the one who embarks on the so-called Creed of Love (evolutionary Sufism); and on the other hand, the narrative techniques of the author of The Book bear a strong resemblance to that of the Sufi texts. From this reading, The Book would have a highly metaphorical meaning and a didactic objective, although it is an indirect and unconventional didacticism.