TEXT AS FAITH IN ANDRÉS DE LI’S THESORO DE LA PASSION
Andrés de Li, an Aragonese converso, authored three extensive works from 1492 to 1494. This essay explores issues of authorial motivation in Li’s Thesoro de la passion (1494), in particular practical considerations of marketability and product niche in the early devotional market. Textual evidence reveals a dynamic working relationship between Li and his Humanist printer, Pablo Hurus, offering a glimpse of the early Iberian printing industry. The essay also explores issues of authorial motivation in light of Li’s religious identity, and how his desire to be accepted as a true Christian may have been a factor in both topic selection and in his inclusion of all typical Passion text elements, including anti-Semitic assumptions and conclusions. The nature of Li’s “converso voice” within the Thesoro is also explored within the larger framework of the converso studies critical apparatus.