Borrowed Words: Translation, Imitation, and the Making of the Nineteenth-Century Novel in Spain (review)

Abstract

534 Reviews One of the many unquestionable merits of her ambitious study is that by defining for fellow scholars a distinctive area of novel-writing she opens the door to further re? search, provoking new readings ofworks in a narrative formof rich social significance. University of Valladolid Maria Jesus Garcia Garrosa Borrowed Words: Translation, Imitation, and the Making of the Nineteenth-Century Novel in Spain. By Elisa Marti-Lopez. London: Associated University Presses. 2002. 193 pp. ?22.02. ISBN 0-8387-5520-8. This book concerns two fundamentally important and interrelated aspects of literary life in mid-nineteenth-century Spain: the writing and publication of socially con? cerned misteriosinspired by Sue, and the prominence of (often quite free) translations of foreign works. As Elisa Marti-Lopez points out, both of these have been neglec? ted because they are considered detrimental to the development of modern Spanish culture, rather than as serious contributions to the emergence of the modern novel. In Marti-Lopez's view, the dependence of criticism on models of strong originality conspires against an appreciation of Spaniards' dialogistic engagement with foreign models and of subtler forms of differencefrom and similarity to non-Spanish cultures. The author argues that Spanish intellectuals were faced with two key problems: the turbulent establishment of a Liberal state and corresponding nation-building, and the hegemony of Paris and London as European publishing centres, based around an author-publisher relationship, and exporting heavily to foreign markets (like Spain). The pursuit of modern forms of culture and politics required emulation and depen? dence; national identity, and distinct circumstances, required difference. Such were the conditions within which the dialogue with Sue's mysterestook place. In saying this, Marti-Lopez rightlyemphasizes that Spanish culture ofthe mid-nineteenth cen? tury was not dominated by Conservative nationalism; nor was interest in the mysteres confined to the Left. This book does not, however, provide an interpretation of many Spanish misterios. Given that the genre was often cultivated by leftists, as Marti-Lopez says, it seems peculiar that the only two texts to receive extended consideration are by Conserva? tive Liberals (Cortada's translation of Les Mysteres de Paris, Mila de la Roca's Los misterios de Barcelona). In terms of the wider panorama, Progressive concern with culture as a vehicle of the public good is discussed, but not connected to a political philosophy that had moved on from the Enlightenment. Perhaps in consequence, Marti-Lopez's threefold equation of Schlegel's legacy, Conservatism, and the idea of a national spirit, all supposedly opposed to the misterios,misrepresents the complex exchanges of ideas in Spain. None the less, this book is a welcome contribution to and rectification of modern Spanish literary history. University of Edinburgh Andrew Ginger Between theMaternal Aegis and theAbyss: Woman as Symbol in thePoetry ofRosalia de Castro. By Michelle C. Geoffrion-Vinci. Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dick? inson University Press; London: Associated University Presses. 2002. 161 pp. ?24.95. ISBN 0-8386-3913-5. This is a brave book, but its argument is not entirely convincing because of the author's tendency to slip into biographical readings of Rosalia de Castro's poetry and ...