In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed west and stumbled upon an unknown continent that came to be called America. Seven years later The Comedia of Calisto and Melibea (or as it later became known, La Celestina) was published in Spain, and instantly became a national best seller. More than sixty editions appeared during the following century, and the work became so popular that, as one scholar has said: "There could have been no one who was capable of reading who did not read La Celestina." La Celestina, published anonymously in 1499, in later editions revealed the author as one Fernando de...