Alonso Pérez, called El Salmantino (Don Benito, Badajoz, ¿? - Salamanca, 1596) was a Spanish writer of the first half of the 16th century Biography
Although it is said that he was from Salamanca, he was actually an Extremaduran from Don Benito (Badajoz), and studied at the University of Sigüenza, being admitted in October 1562 at the College of the Archbishop of the University of Salamanca; in her he became professor of natural philosophy and lived there until his death, in 1596; for that reason it was known as "the Salmantino". He was also a canon of Plasencia, according to his own statements, Alonso Pérez was a personal friend of the poet Jorge de Montemayor, who communicated with him, before leaving for Italy, where he would soon die violently, the problems of continuing his famous pastoral novel, Los Seven books of the Diana. It seems that Montemayor had decided to make Diana widow, to marry her again and thus make her enjoy maximum happiness. On the death of his friend, he wrote the continuation, another pastoral novel, Second part of the Diana (Valencia, 1563, is known moreover that of Valencia: Sebastian Mey, 1564), which continued the work of his friend Montemayor. The work has been very despised by the critic, perhaps by the words of Cervantes when condemning it to the bonfire and by the fact of having had to compete with the continuation of Gaspar Gil Polo; the reality, however, is different, since between 1559 and 1624, the golden age of the pastoral novel, the continuation of Gil Polo was printed seven times, but that of Alonso more than doubled, fifteen; It was, then, a success in his time. The theory of love outlined in the work is not inspired by the philosophy of Neoplatonism, like the others of its kind, but has some features of courtly love. On the other hand, it mixes very heterogeneous elements that make the structure of the work complex and diffuse. It was translated into English by Bartholomew Yong in 1598.
The work has been studied by the Polish hispanist Florian Smieja, who discovered the first edition of the Valencian edition of 1563. The text can be found on the pages of the Google Books project. Works
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