Forner against Laviano: the Carta de Marcial in its context (the erudite answer to the “Bad Poets” of 1783)

Abstract

In this paper, we edit and comment the Carta de M. V. Marcial a Don Manuel Fermin de Laviano, a satire written by Juan Pablo Forner. First, we read the text in its context: the development of the theatrical career of Manuel Fermin de Laviano between 1779 and 1783 and the regal celebrations of August and September 1783. Second, we edit the Carta, after we have compared its two manuscript testimonies. Third, we comment this text as a result of an erudite answer of rejection against the strategies of self-representation as an author made by Laviano, in order to expose himself as a cultured writer. At last, we focus on the relevance of this Carta as a testimony of the Spanish literary controversies from XVIIIth century, which are characterized by the neoclassical paradigm that rules over the writing process as an access to the cultured literary circles.