Studia Litterarum Studia Litterarum 2500-4247 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2024-9-1-206-245 Research Article Articles The Fate of Spanish Folk Genres in the New World Kofman Andrey F. red@studlit.ru March 25, 2024 2024 December 12, 2023 The article shows what transformation three Spanish folklore genres, transferred to the New World by streams of conquistadors and emigrants (romance, copla, and décima), underwent. The traditional Spanish monorim romance is virtually extinct; strophic novelistic romance remained latent for almost three centuries until it gave rise to the growth of Creole romance in the 19th century. The article considers the features of this genre, which are generally determined by its lyrical-epic nature, in contrast to the Spanish romance. The most productive and viable in the New World was copla, the most widespread form of the so-called “arte menor,” the art of small poetic forms. It has not changed at all formally. However, being an improvisational genre, especially susceptible to variability, it has accumulated new substantive elements. Based on a comparison of Spanish and American variants, the article demonstrates the processes of targeted variability and desymbolization and pays special attention to the formation of machista motifs. Décima, a complex stanza born in the bosom of Spanish literature, existed for a very short time in Spanish folklore. In the New World, it reappeared as a folklore genre, became an improvisation tool, applicable in competitions of folk poets, and significantly expanded its themes. Spanish folklore Creole folklore romance copla décima glossa Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 1. 1 Zemskov, V.B. Argentinskaia poeziia gaucho [Argentine Gaucho Poetry]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1977. 224 p. (In Russ.) 2. 2 Kofman, A.F. “Kreol’skii fol’klor” [“Creole Folklore”]. Istoriia literatur Latinskoi Ameriki. Ot Voiny za nezavisimost’ do zaversheniia natsional’noi gosudarstvennoi konsolidatsii (1810–1870-e gody) [History of Latin American Literature. From the Revolutionary War to the Completion of National State Consolidation (1810s–1870s)]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1989, pp. 552–582. (In Russ.) 3. 3 Kofman, A.F. “Machizm i ego otrazhenie v ispanoamerikanskom fol’klore” [“Machismo and Its Reflection in Spanish-American Folklore”]. Traditsionnaia kul’tura, vol. 21, no. 1, 2020, pp. 76–90. DOI: 10.26158/TK.2020.21.1.005 (In Russ.) 4. 4 Kofman, A.F. “Meksikanskaia sentimental’naia pesnia i mekhanizmy fol’klorizatsii romantizma” [“Mexican Sentimental Song and Mechanisms of Folklorization of Romanticism”]. Traditsionnaia kul’tura, vol. 68, no. 4, 2017, pp. 62–73. (In Russ.) 5. 5 Kofman, A.F. “Problema sinteza v latinoamerikanskoi kul’ture” [“The Problem of Synthesis in Latin American Culture”]. Iberica Americans. Latinoamerikanskaia kul’tura v diskussiiakh kontsa XX – nachala XXI vekov [Iberica Americans. Latin American Culture in Discussions of the Late 20th – Early 21st Centuries]. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2009, pp. 392–403. (In Russ.) 6. 6 Kofman, A.F. “Sud’by ispanskogo romansa v Latinskoi Amerike” [“The Fate of Spanish Romance in Latin America”]. Iberica Americans. Kul’tury Starogo i Novogo Sveta v ikh vzaimodeistvii [Iberica Americans. Cultures of the Old and New Worlds in Their Interaction]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 1991, pp. 187–194. (In Russ.) 7. 7 Aretz, Isabel. Manual del Folklore venezolano. Caracas, Ministerio de Educacion, Direccion de Cultura y Bellas Artes, 1957. 219 p. (In Spanish) 8. 8 Cardona, Miguel, Luis Felipe Ramon y Rivera, Isabel Aretz, y Gustavo L. Carrera. Panorama de folklore venezolano. Caracas, Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1959. 223 p. (In Spanish) 9. 9 Jimenez de Baez, Yvette. La décima popular en Puerto Rico. Mexico, Universidad Veracruzana, 1964. 450 p. (In Spanish) 10. 10 Mendoza, Vicente T. Lírica narrativa de México. Mexico, Instituto De Investigaciones Esteticas, Universidad Nacional, 1964. 419 p. (In Spanish) 11. 11 Menendez Pidal, Ramon. Los romances de América y otros estudios. Mexico, Buenos Aires, Espasa-Calpe, 1939. 185 p. (In Spanish) 12. 12 Menendez Pidal, Ramon. Romancero hispánico: (hispano-portuguez, americano y sefardí), vol. 2. Madrid, Espasa-Calpe ed., 1953. 403 p. (In Spanish) 13. 13 Orta Ruiz, Jesus. Décima y folklore. La Habana, UNEAC, 1981. 241 p. (In Spanish)