SPANISH LITERATURE (cont.)
Castilian Spanish Literature - Bibliography
The base of the student’s operations is always the great work of Nicolas Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus and Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, in the revised and completed edition of Francisco Perez Bayer, Tomas Antonio Sanchez, and Juan Antonio Pellicer (Madrid, 1783-88, 4 vols. fol.). The student can afford to disregard all the general histories which preceded Tichnor’s History of Spanish Literature (New York, 1849, 3 vols. 8vo; 4th ed., Boston, 1872, 3 vols. 8vo), a work of solid value, especially from the bibliographical point of view; it is quite indispensable that the reader should consult also the Spanish translation by D. Pascual de Gayangos and Enrique de Vedia (Madrid, 1851-56) and the German translation of Julius with some important additions by Ferdinand Wolf (Leipsic, 1851-67). Nothing can be said in favour of the French translation by J. G. Magnabal (Paris, 1864-72). The Historia Critica de la Literatura Española of José Amador de los Rios (Madrid, 1861-65, 7 vols. 8vo), although deficient in criticism and full of errors in fact, supplies some useful information as to the period prior to the 15th century, with which it exclusively deals. Menendez Pelayo’s Historia de las Ideas Estétias en España (Madrid, 1884-86, 3 vols. 8vo), already referred to, is very instructive. For the 18th century, Leopoldo A. de Cueto’s "Bosquejo Histórico-Crítico de la Poesia Castellana en el Siglo xviii," prefixed to the first vol. of Rivadeneyra’s Poetas Líricos del Siglo xviii., is indispensable. For the 19th century there is not as yet any satisfactory work dealing with the literature as a whole; that of M.G. Hubbard, Histoire de la Littérature Contemporaine en Espagne (Paris, 1876, 1 vol. 8vo), although superficial and inaccurate, is useful in the absence of anything better. Some descriptions of Castilian literature have been specially studied with care and competence, notably the drama, on which we have two thorough works,—Frederick von Schack’s Geschichte der dramatischen Literatur u. Kunst in Spanien (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1846-54, 3 vols. 8vo), unfortunately now much behindhand, and in no way improved in this respect in the Spanish translation now in course of publication at Madrid under the superintendence of Eduardo de Mier, and Cayetano Alberto de la Barrera’s excellent Catálogo Bibliográfico y Biográfico del Teatro Antiquo Español (Madrid, 1860, large 8vo). On the Castilian literature of the Middle Ages, the works to be consulted are Ferdinand Wolf’s Studien zur Geschichte der Spanischen u. Portugiesischen Nationalliteratur (Berlin, 1859, 1 vol. 8vo) and Manuel Milá y Fontanal’s De la Poesia Heroico-Popular Castellana (Barcelona, 1874, 1 vol. 8vo).
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Spain - Table of Contents