Un ejemplo de constitución genérica en la literatura espiritual: El «Paso» del Ecce Homo

Spiritual Literature represents a very special branch within the literary system. In this article the genre of the «paso», which is completely different from the dramatic one, will be discussed beyond the traditional approches, based on thematic, formal and discoursive features. In this way, in the «paso» a possible connection of a literary kind with a kind of knowledge and experience is proposed. The Renaissance Genre-Theory can provide a view which allows us to surpass the narrow frame of mimesis. The literary kind is opened to the world, which is represented through the communicative powers of rhetoric devices. The «paso» belongs to the epidictic genre. The praise of Christ adopts the narratio of a passage taken out from the Passion, according to figurae sententiae waiting for affective answers. But its spiritual condition is produced by cultural implications which warrant the correct interpretation of its meanings. Examples of Ecce homo by Francisco de Osuna, Juan de Ávila and fray Luis de Granada are analysed according to this purpose.