One of this author’s characters, who “censures” a novel for being written in a dialect “without article,” is said to be left in the “X condition” after heavy drinking. This author claims that a rival’s books, “being bad, are harder than stones,” after giving a parable about a man who is beaten for dropping a rock on a prized “lurcher.” In a novel by this author, a rival’s book is called “so bad” that it would be impossible to do worse on purpose by devils using it as a (*) tennis ball at the gates of hell. In a preface, this author asks whether “it is an easy thing to write a book” after telling a story about a madman who uses a pointed reed to inflate a dog. An affidavit stating that another author's characters are impostors is signed by Álvaro Tarfe in a novel by this author that ends with an attack on a “pretended Tordesillesque (“tor-day-SEE-yesk”) writer.” For 10 points, name this author who savaged Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda (“ah-bay-ah-NAY-dah”) for writing an unauthorized sequel. ■END■
ANSWER: Miguel de Cervantes [or Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra] (The first line refers to the Aragonese dialect, in which Avellaneda’s unauthorized continuation of Don Quixote was written.)
<Andrew Hart, European Literature>
= Average correct buzz position