Reviewed by: The Classical Tradition in Medieval Catalan, 1300–1500: Translation, Imitation, and Literacy by Lluís Cabré et al John Dagenais Keywords history of the language, Historical Romance, Old Spanish, medieval Castilian, materialist hermeneutics, history of the book, translation, material culture, novela sentimental, Cárcel de amor, Catalan Literature, Crown of Aragon, Occitan, Spanish Empire, poetry, Classical Reception, Dante, Mediterranean Studies, Food Studies, Galen, ballads, María de Zayas, Aljamiado, Mudéjar, pilgrimage Cabré, Lluís, Alejandro Coroleu, Montserrat Ferrer, Albert Lloret, and Josep Pujol. The Classical Tradition in Medieval Catalan, 1300–1500: Translation, Imitation, and Literacy. Tamesis, 2018. ISBN: 978-1-85566-322-0. The past forty years have seen an unprecedented effort by scholars in the Catalan-speaking areas of the Iberian Peninsula to advance the knowledge of medieval letters in those areas, a project already well under way in the early years of the last century, but interrupted by the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship of Francisco Franco. The authors of the present study begin by linking this volume back to Antoni Rubió i Lluch’s El renacimiento clásico en la literatura catalana (1889) and offer the fruits of post-Franco research in what they present as the first monograph on the topic of the classical tradition in medieval Catalan letters since the publication of Rubió i Lluch’s work. They define this classical tradition as consisting of “translations (both extant and lost) of classical texts, works from the Italian Renaissance (from Dante to Leon Battista Alberti), and works by major medieval authors who contributed to the transmission of classical material” (x). The importance of translation and imitation in the formation of medieval Catalan letters can scarcely be exaggerated, and translation and imitation stemming from these three traditions is of particular weight and interest. The three areas just outlined have fairly flexible borders. This study avoids rigid classifications and often strays—always in interesting ways—outside these borders. One might see the result as a sort of general survey of medieval Catalan letters viewed through the lens of translations and adaptations of the classics. This volume is part of a recent effort to bring the fruits of new research, hitherto chiefly published in Catalan, to a larger, international audience through publications in English. As the authors state, “the aim of the study in this volume is to disseminate this knowledge [of the classical tradition in medieval Catalan] in a language that can reach the international community of students and scholars interested both in the endurance of classical literature and in the history of medieval literature in Romance languages” (x). It is important to keep this goal of outreach toward a prospective English-language readership in mind when it comes to understanding some of the choices that the authors made in putting together this volume. [End Page 192] The book is divided into two parts. The first part contains a chapter on the “Historical Background,” followed by chapters on “Literacy: Translations and Royal Patronage,” “Imitation: The Classical Tradition in the Works of Five Major Authors,” and “Printing: Humanism and Renaissance.” The second part consists of a “Catalogue of Translations to 1500.” The volume includes three maps: “The Catalan-Speaking Territories,” “The Dominions of Alfonso the Magnanimous (1442–58),” and “The Crown of Aragon and its Area of Influence in Occitania before the Battle of Muret (12 September 1213).” The book has two appendices: “Italian Renaissance: Printed Editions, 1473–1535” and “Rulers of the Crown of Aragon, 1137–1516.” There is an index to proper names (or titles of anonymous works) of individuals mentioned in the study and a thorough bibliography. The first chapter of Part I is written keeping in mind the prospective readership of students and scholars unfamiliar with the history of early Catalonia and the medieval Crown of Aragon as well as with the pan-Mediterranean presence of the Catalan language in that period. On this latter point, they venture well into the twentieth century and the fate of Catalan under the Franco dictatorship. This is a clear and concise exposition of these matters. I would certainly recommend this chapter to students and colleagues interested in getting quickly up to speed on the...
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Sep 8, 2020
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