Первая история испанской литературы: Луис Хосе Веласкес, маркиз де Вальдефлорес, и его Orígenes de la poesía castellana (1754)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the first systematic history of Spanish literature, the work of Luis José Velázquez, “Orígenes de la poesía castellana” (1754). Based on the “Notes” by Martin Sarmiento and “Poética” by Ignacio Luzan, the cultural and historical background of the era is determined. The Enlightenment as a time of national literary histories and neoclassicism served to creation of this important text. The article presents the biography of Velázquez, and also retells his work in detail, using extensive quotes due to the fact that this text has not yet been translated into Russian. The main merits of Velazquez as a historian and systematizer (the terms “golden age”, “conceptism”, “cultranism”) are listed; the breadth and academicity of the approach towards Spanish writers of the past is shown and the reasons for Velázquez’ short-sightedness in relation to his great contemporaries are explained. The ups and downs of the history of Spanish literature born in the age of Enlightenment show how it gradually became famous thanks to foreign translators and commentators: Dietze, Buttervek, Sismondi. The author restores the history of the emergence of the Spanish theme in Russian literature (from Karamzin to Bulgarin)