Fidel Sebastián Mediavilla

Fidel Sebastian Mediavilla is a recognized specialist in the punctuation of the Spanish Golden Age. In several monographs has compiled and discussed the doctrines and systems of punctuation and accentuation, especially since Greek antiquity to 1700. In his study of the first edition of Don Quixote, he has defined which was the practice of the punctuation in the printing of the time. He has contributed to textual criticism with a new instrument which complements the lachmannian argument of the common-error (gross errors of punctuation) with significant matches in switchable statistics aspects (preference of a sign by an equivalent one, unenforceable punctuation under certain circumstances ...). He has applied this method to resolve issues of parentage, specifying the stemma of the oldest editions of Lazarillo and La Celestina; he has confirmed the involvement of Mateo Alemán in the pirate edition of Guzman de Alfarache, and authorship of Malón de Chaide in books signed by Jerónimo de Saona. Lately, he has applied his knowledge of punctuation and accentuation in its critical edition of the Libro de la vida by St. Teresa (Real Academia Española, 2014).