Apples of Gold in Filigrees of Silver: Jewish Writing in the Eye of the Spanish Inquisition

In the age of persecution by the Spanish Inquisition, "Converso literature" was written by Jews who had been forced to convert to Christianity. These texts express essentially Jewish messages, while hiding their meaning from non-Jews. States that certain Spanish masterpieces published after 1391 (the year of pogroms and mass forced conversions in Spain) have baffled literary experts for over 600 years. Contends that this is because they are Converso texts, written in such a way that Christians would understand them one way, while Jews would read the same words and understand them in a totally different, sometimes opposite, way. Examines the anonymous 16th-century works "La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes, " "La siete libros de la Diana, " and "El Abencerraje y la hermosa Jarifa, " all of which contributed to the development of the modern novel.