Los Eros Writers and the Academy. The Case of Enciclopedia del erotismo, by Camilo José Cela

Abstract

This paper studies, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the treatment that Camilo José Cela provides, in his monumental Enciclopedia del erotismo, to the definitions of RAE’s Dictionary of Spanish (Diccionario de la lengua española), paying particular attention to the citation strategies of academic definitions and to those specific cases in which Cela explicitly corrects or criticizes them. Quantitatively, the importance of the definitions of the DLE in structuring the Enciclopedia entries is evident. Qualitatively, Cela’s reflections and amendments and his ideological criticism to the notions related to Catholic-bourgeois sexual morality show the controversy against the excessive «decency» of the Academy, which turns into defining inaccuracies and unnecessary moralizing evaluations.