91
Blanco Aguinaga regards this opening toward the future as an invalidation of Rinconete's moralizing. See his «Cervantes y la picaresca», 338.
92
Ruth El Saffar, who was kind enough to read the first draft of this paper, states that Monipodio's world resembles an «artistic creation» within an allegory: «Rinconete y Cortadillo is an allegory of the author's role». In complete agreement, I would stress the link between self-mastery and formal, aesthetic mastery within this allegorical construct. Cervantes' position vis-à-vis his material is not unlike that of Rinconete, Cortadillo and Monopodio to their world: all are innovators. Cervantes claimed to be the first to write short novels in Spanish; Rinconete and Cortadillo invent themselves and their livelihoods, and Monipodio finds a radical solution to the incoherence and anarchy of the underworld by infusing its membership with self-esteem. Security, continuity, and growth accrue to them all be cause they combine innovation with structure. See Ruth El Saffar, Novel to Romance. A Study of Cervantes's 'Novelas ejemplares', (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1974), 37-39.