Diego de San Pedro achieved early recognition as the author of two sentimental fictions, Tractado de amores de Arnalte y Lucenda (The Story of the Loves of Arnalte and Lucenda, 1491; translated as The pretie and wittie historie of Arnalt & Lucenda, 1575) and Cárcel de amor (Prison of Love, 1492; translated as The Castell of Love, circa 1549). Their most distinctive feature is a complex analysis of sentimental love. Both works were quickly translated into French, Italian, and English. Cárcel de amor, also translated into Catalan, enjoyed unusual publishing success, with more than thirty prints and reprints in its original Castilian, more than twenty in seven other languages. The author was fully aware of the interest Cárcel de amor elicited. In his poem Desprecio de la Fortuna (Contempt of Fortune, circa 1498), he repented from his previous "obras livianas" (frivolous writings) and stated with remorse that the...