{"id":2512,"date":"2012-10-02T10:44:17","date_gmt":"2012-10-02T10:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp\/?p=2512"},"modified":"2016-11-09T18:26:32","modified_gmt":"2016-11-09T17:26:32","slug":"translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/","title":{"rendered":"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart’s Ancient Spanish Ballads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Diego Saglia<\/strong><\/p>\n

Spain – bold, ardent, melancholy Spain – the only land in Europe that the children of the East seem to have cared to make their home; – the nurse of romance, after it left its cradle in the Arab desarts

[sic<\/em>!]; – the glowing mother of chivalry [\u2026] – a land in itself bearing features\u00a0 expressive\u00a0 of\u00a0 all\u00a0 that\u00a0 can\u00a0 give\u00a0 interest\u00a0 to\u00a0 external\u00a0 nature,\u00a0 and\u00a0 possessing annals filled to overflowing with memorials of the great, the erring, and the ill-fated [\u2026] [ROSCOE 2007, pp. v-vi]\n

Thus Thomas\u00a0 Roscoe\u00a0 introduces\u00a0 the\u00a0 first\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 three\u00a0 volumes\u00a0 of Jennings Landscape Annual<\/em> dedicated to Spain and published between 1835\u00a0 and\u00a0 1838.\u00a0 Although,\u00a0 in\u00a0 previous\u00a0 issues,\u00a0 he “has\u00a0 already conducted his readers to the fairest scenes of France and Italy” [Ibid., p. v],\u00a0 he suggests that the virtual journey to Spain will be an altogether different\u00a0 experience. Accordingly, he delineates the peculiar traits of this country by conjuring up some of the central\u00a0 topoi<\/em> of Spanishness that make up the composite imagery of Romantic Spain.
\nCommentators past and present have seen Romantic “inventions” of Spain as a type of cultural construction which, in Javier Noya’s words, typifies Spain as “un pais exotico y orientalizante, mas pre-moderno que decadente” [qtd\u00a0 in \u00a0ABIADA\u00a0 2004,\u00a0 p.\u00a0 58],\u00a0 the\u00a0 other\u00a0 of\u00a0 its\u00a0 neighbouring\u00a0 European\u00a0 countries.\u00a0 In\u00a0 actual\u00a0 fact,\u00a0 this\u00a0 form\u00a0 of\u00a0 cultural\u00a0 construction\u00a0 must\u00a0 be\u00a0 understood as part of a wider process of rediscovery of, and refamiliarization with, Spain, a process that, among other things, promoted a mythologization of\u00a0 the\u00a0 country’s\u00a0 past.\u00a0 In\u00a0 Romantic-period\u00a0 Britain,\u00a0 growing\u00a0 numbers\u00a0 of\u00a0 fascinated travellers, writers, artists\u00a0 and readers saw Spain as the land of\u00a0 chivalry, exalted historical events, a flourishing and lost Muslim civilization\u00a0 and,\u00a0 in\u00a0 literature,\u00a0 the\u00a0 birthplace\u00a0 of\u00a0 romance.\u00a0 In\u00a0 spite\u00a0 of\u00a0 its\u00a0 clich\u00e9s\u00a0 and\u00a0 limitations, this cultural map of the Iberian country actually made it possible for travellers, writers and artists to “create” Spain for a British public that\u00a0 manifested an increasing interest in this relatively known part of Europe. Roscoe’s reference to “romance” primarily refers to the traditional English literary\u00a0 genre,\u00a0 in\u00a0 prose\u00a0 and\u00a0 verse,\u00a0 that\u00a0 was\u00a0 a\u00a0 staple\u00a0 of\u00a0 Romantic-period\u00a0 literature.\u00a0 As\u00a0 Stuart\u00a0 Curran\u00a0 has\u00a0 observed,\u00a0 if\u00a0 “one\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 great\u00a0 scholarly\u00a0 achievements of the Enlightenment [was] the recovery of medieval literature as embodied in its romances” this “revival of romance […] led inevitably to its rewriting”and its transformation into “a central genre of British poetry”\u00a0 between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries [CURRAN 1986, p. 129].\u00a0 However, in the context of Roscoe’s prefatory remarks, the term also seems\u00a0 to hark back to the Spanish ballads, or romances, that had been attracting the attention of European scholars, poets and readers and played a major role in\u00a0 the late-Enlightenment rediscovery of medieval literature.
\nIn Ramon Men\u00e9ndez Pidal’s overview of the diffusion of the romances in eighteenth-century Europe, Thomas Percy’s inclusion of two instances of\u00a0 these poems in his\u00a0 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry<\/em> (1765) influenced Johann\u00a0 Gottfried\u00a0 von\u00a0 Herder,\u00a0 whose\u00a0 Volkslieder<\/em>\u00a0 (1778)\u00a0 contains\u00a0 a\u00a0 few romances from Gin\u00e9s P\u00e9rez de Hita’s\u00a0 Guerras civiles de Granada<\/em> (1595, 1601) and by Luis de G\u00f2ngora. Later Herder went on to publish a composite reworking\u00a0 of\u00a0 Cid-related\u00a0 materials\u00a0 entitled\u00a0 Der\u00a0 Cid\u00a0 nach\u00a0 spanischen\u00a0\u00a0 Romanzen<\/em> (1803, 1805). German scholars were particularly active in the re- evaluation and promotion of the Spanish ballads, with such substantial and\u00a0 authoritative\u00a0 contributions\u00a0 as\u00a0 Jakob\u00a0 Grimm’s\u00a0 Silva\u00a0 de\u00a0 romances\u00a0 viejos<\/em> (1815), G.B. Depping’s\u00a0 Sammlung der besten alten spanischen Romanzen<\/em> (1817),\u00a0 Friederich\u00a0 Diez’s\u00a0 Altspanische\u00a0 Romanzen<\/em>\u00a0 (1818,\u00a0 1821),\u00a0 Johann Niklaus Bohl von Faber’s\u00a0 Floresta de rimas antiguas castellanas<\/em> (1821- 1825) or B. Pandin’s\u00a0 Spanische Romanzen<\/em> (1823). In France, Creuz de Lesser published his Romances du Cid<\/em> (1814) and Abel Hugo his Romancero e historia del rey de Espana don Rodrigo<\/em> (1821) and\u00a0 Romances historiques<\/em>(1822) [PIDAL 1953, II, 240-69]. In Spain, Agust\u00ecn Dur\u00e0n’s definitive five-volume Romancero<\/em> appeared between 1828 and 1832.
\nEven this briefest of overviews clearly indicates that German scholars\u00a0 made a crucial contribution to the collection and edition of the\u00a0 romances. With these publications they aimed to\u00a0 provide as exhaustive as possible a\u00a0 repertoire of this enormous and as yet untapped store of popular balladry, a\u00a0 task which, according to J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi, they carried out “with a scrupulous fidelity peculiar to the Germans” [SISMONDI 1846, II, p. 131]. Through Percy’s pioneering translations, British interest in the\u00a0 romances exerted an early and fundamental influence on what soon developed into a\u00a0 widespread European interest in this poetic form. And British antiquarians\u00a0 and hispanophile writers such as Robert Southey and Felicia Hemans soon\u00a0 began to acquire and consult this growing number of Continental editions. Eager\u00a0 to\u00a0 obtain\u00a0 a\u00a0 copy\u00a0 of\u00a0 Depping’s\u00a0 collection,\u00a0 Walter\u00a0 Scott\u00a0 wrote\u00a0 to\u00a0 Southey in a letter of 4 April 1819 to tell him how he came to own one:<\/p>\n

Have you seen decidedly the most full and methodized collection of\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 romances\u00a0 (ballads)\u00a0 published\u00a0 by\u00a0 the\u00a0 industry\u00a0 of\u00a0 Depping\u00a0 (Altenburgh\u00a0 and\u00a0 Leipsic,\u00a0 1817?) \u00a0It\u00a0 is\u00a0 quite\u00a0 delighhtful.\u00a0 [George]\u00a0 Ticknor had set me agog to see it,\u00a0 without affording me any hope it\u00a0 could be had in London, when by one of these fortunate chances\u00a0 which have often marked my life, a friend, who had been lately on the Continent, came unexpectedly to inquire for me, and plucked it forth\u00a0 par mani\u00e8re de cadeau.<\/em> [LOCKHART 1900, III, p. 265]\n

\u00a0 Yet, unlike their Continental counterparts, British writers and scholars\u00a0 began\u00a0 to\u00a0 translate\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 romances\u00a0<\/em> in\u00a0 a\u00a0 much\u00a0 more\u00a0 irregular\u00a0 and\u00a0 less\u00a0 organized fashion. Southey produced a sizeable number of translations but\u00a0 only published them separately and occasionally in periodicals such as\u00a0 The Morning\u00a0 Post<\/em>.\u00a0 In\u00a0 addition,\u00a0 Lord\u00a0 Byron\u00a0 and\u00a0 Matthew\u00a0 Gregory\u00a0 Lewis\u00a0\u00a0 translated\u00a0 a\u00a0 handful\u00a0 of\u00a0 romances\u00a0<\/em> as\u00a0 occasional\u00a0 poetical\u00a0 exercises,\u00a0 while\u00a0 Felicia Hemans mostly resorted to the\u00a0 romances as sources for her own\u00a0 “Songs of the Cid” and other recreations of Spanish minstrelsy.
\nIn 1775 Bishop Percy had planned a collection entitled\u00a0 Ancient Songs\u00a0 Chiefly on Moorish Reliques<\/em>, which however was never published. The only early British collection of\u00a0\u00a0romances<\/em> was Thomas Rodd’s\u00a0 Ancient Ballads\u00a0 from the Civil Wars of Granada (<\/em>1801, 1803), based on Hita’s\u00a0 Guerras civiles de Granada<\/em>, later followed by his\u00a0 History of Charles the Great and\u00a0 Orlando<\/em> (1812) containing “the Most Celebrated Ancient Spanish Ballads\u00a0 relating to the Twelve Peers of France”. Particularly, Rodd’s 1801 volume\u00a0 does not feature an introduction and thus makes no attempt at providing background and contextual information for the texts. More comprehensive\u00a0 and\u00a0 paratextually\u00a0 complex\u00a0 publications\u00a0 appeared\u00a0 in the\u00a0 1820s\u00a0 with\u00a0 John\u00a0 Gibson Lockhart’s Ancient Spanish Ballads, Historical and Romantic<\/em> (1823) and John Bowring’s\u00a0 Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain<\/em> (1824). Not\u00a0 exclusively concerned with\u00a0 romances but also with other “ancient” poetical\u00a0 forms, the latter work is dedicated to Lord Holland as someone who “in this country first excited and first gratified the public curiosity with respect to the Literature of Spain” [BOWRING 1824, p. iii]. However, as Bowring openly\u00a0 professes his dissatisfaction with contemporary scholarly debate – “the more I read […] the less was I satisfied with the information obtained” [Ibid., p. v] – the volume does not present any extensive introduction on the literary, cultural and historical relevance of early Spanish poetry. The collector and\u00a0 translator merely observes that the special importance of the ballads lies in their status as “truly national” verse [Ibid., p. vi].
\nBy\u00a0\u00a0 contrast,\u00a0\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0\u00a0 Ancient\u00a0\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0\u00a0 Ballads,\u00a0\u00a0 Historical\u00a0\u00a0 and Romantic<\/em> constitutes a different scholarly and cultural operation, specifically concerned with the\u00a0 romances<\/em>, their contextualization and interpretation. The\u00a0 translator was the son-in-law and later biographer of Walter Scott, a regular\u00a0 contributor\u00a0 to\u00a0 Blackwood’s\u00a0 Magazine<\/em>\u00a0 and,\u00a0 from\u00a0 1825,\u00a0 the\u00a0 editor\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Quarterly\u00a0 Review<\/em>.\u00a0 Scott\u00a0 himself\u00a0 contributed\u00a0 to\u00a0 the \u00a0collection\u00a0 with\u00a0 a\u00a0\u00a0 translation of Los fieros cuerpos revueltos<\/em> (about the death of King Pedro el cruel)\u00a0 as\u00a0 The\u00a0 death\u00a0 of\u00a0 Don\u00a0 Pedro,\u00a0 and\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 prefatory\u00a0 note\u00a0 Lockhart indicates that the ballad “was translated by a friend” and that it is “quoted\u00a0 more than once by Cervantes in Don Quixote” [see PIDAL 1953, II, p. 259].\u00a0 I ndeed, some of the versions had already appeared in Lockhart’s 1822 edition of Peter Motteux’s translation of Don Quixote<\/em> published in London by Hurst and Robinson. Yet his first translation of a romance<\/em> dated further back to the Edinburgh\u00a0 Annual Register<\/em> for 1816 (published in 1820), while a few more\u00a0 featured in the issues of Blackwood’s Magazine<\/em> for February and June 1820. When the collection came off the press in 1823, it was an immediate success and\u00a0 had\u00a0 a\u00a0 profound\u00a0 impact\u00a0 on\u00a0 both\u00a0 scholars\u00a0 and\u00a0 the\u00a0 general\u00a0 public.\u00a0 In\u00a0 Erasmo Buceta’s words, it represented “el mas eficaz impulso individual en\u00a0 favor de la popularizacion del Romancero en la Gran Bretana” [BUCETA 1924, p. 502].
\nIn keeping with the adaptative tendencies of poetic translation in verse\u00a0 current between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Lockhart’s versions present a variety of significant interventions on the originals, starting from\u00a0 the\u00a0 transformation\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 alliterative\u00a0 lines\u00a0 into\u00a0 regularly\u00a0 rhymed\u00a0 ones\u00a0\u00a0 [BUCETA 1924, p. 503 and HAYNES 2006, p. 435]. The poems are divided\u00a0 into three sections – “Historical”,\u00a0 “Moorish” and “Romantic” – , with the\u00a0 Moorish section functioning as a transitional body of verse between the more reliably historical compositions and the more romanticized narratives about the\u00a0 last\u00a0 period\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 kingdom\u00a0 of\u00a0 Granada.\u00a0 Yet,\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0 collection\u00a0 deserves particular attention for its introductory observations, an extended\u00a0 reflection on the\u00a0 romances<\/em> and their historical and cultural contexts that\u00a0 clarifies\u00a0 the\u00a0 translator\u00a0 and\u00a0 editor’s\u00a0 position\u00a0 in\u00a0 current\u00a0 scholarly\u00a0 debates, defines the conditions for the reception and assimilation of this type of verse in the British cultural context and promotes a specific construction of Spain and its culture.<\/p>\n

Attesting\u00a0 to\u00a0 the\u00a0 scholarly\u00a0 affiliations\u00a0 and\u00a0 the\u00a0 popularizing\u00a0 aims\u00a0 of\u00a0 Lockhart’s work, the introduction positions the volume in an overtly English context: “The intention of this Publication is to furnish the English reader\u00a0 with some notion of that old Spanish minstrelsy, which has been preserved in the\u00a0 different\u00a0 Cancioneros\u00a0<\/em> and\u00a0 Romanceros\u00a0<\/em> of\u00a0 the\u00a0 sixteenth\u00a0 century”\u00a0 [LOCKHART 1823, p. vii]. This statement then leads to a dismissive judgment on Spanish scholarship: “That great mass of popular poetry has never yet\u00a0 received in its own country the attention to which it is entitled” [Ibid., p. vii]. In Lockhart’s view, the fact that Spanish scholars have not contributed to the labour\u00a0 of\u00a0 collecting\u00a0 their\u00a0 own\u00a0 poetry\u00a0 owes\u00a0 much\u00a0 to\u00a0 the\u00a0 belatedness\u00a0 of\u00a0 Spanish literary taste and a generalized, and reprehensible, lack of interest in early verse: “While hundreds of volumes have been written about authors\u00a0 who were, at best, ingenuous imitators of classical or Italian models, not one, of the least critical merit, has been\u00a0 bestowed upon those older and simpler\u00a0 poets who were contented with the native inspiration of Castilian pride”\u00a0 [Ibid.,\u00a0 p.\u00a0 vii].\u00a0 Consequently,\u00a0 Lockhart\u00a0 observes\u00a0 with\u00a0 no\u00a0 small\u00a0 degree\u00a0 of\u00a0 ‘national’ pride that Spain cannot boast a “Spanish Percy, or Ellis, or Ritson” [Ibid.]. And, a few pages later on, he returns to this issue and exclaims: “Had there\u00a0 been\u00a0 published\u00a0 at\u00a0 London\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 reign\u00a0 of\u00a0 our\u00a0 Henry\u00a0 VIII.,\u00a0 a\u00a0 vast\u00a0 collection\u00a0 of\u00a0 English\u00a0 ballads\u00a0 about\u00a0 the\u00a0 wars\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Plantagenets,\u00a0 what\u00a0 illustration and annotation would not that collection have received long ere\u00a0 now!” [Ibid., p. xi].
\nLockhart’s assessment is undoubtedly too severe, if we consider that, in\u00a0 spite of the dismissive evaluations of the\u00a0 romances<\/em> by neoclassical scholars\u00a0 and writers, the 1820s saw the beginnings of the re-evaluation of this type of verse\u00a0 in\u00a0 Spain.\u00a0 Between\u00a0 1820\u00a0 and\u00a0 1823,\u00a0 the\u00a0 Valencian\u00a0 printer\u00a0 Agust\u00ecn\u00a0 Laborda issued a sizeable number of romances<\/em>, while Francisco Mart\u00ecnez de la Rosa defended them as the national poetry of Spain in his neoclassical\u00a0 Po\u00e9tica<\/em> (1827) [PEERS 1940, I, pp. 157-8]. In addition, Dur\u00e0n’s project for a comprehensive\u00a0 Romancero<\/em>,\u00a0 which\u00a0 after\u00a0 its\u00a0 publication\u00a0 supplanted\u00a0 all\u00a0 previous foreign collections and editions, started to take shape in the early 1820s [GIES 1975, p. 19]. Most probably unaware of these developments, Lockhart emphasizes the absence of Spanish contributions and, conversely, stresses the importance of works in German, French and English. Thus, he\u00a0 echoes Friederich Bouterwek’s complaint, in his history of Spanish literature (contained\u00a0 his\u00a0 twelve-volume\u00a0 Geschichte\u00a0 der\u00a0 Poesie\u00a0 und\u00a0 Beredsamkeit<\/em>, 1801-19), that “no attempt had ever been made even to arrange the old\u00a0 Spanish ballads in any thing like chronological order”[Ibid., pp. vii-viii], and Depping’s\u00a0 attempt\u00a0 at\u00a0 obviating\u00a0 this\u00a0 problem\u00a0 in\u00a0 his\u00a0 Sammlung,<\/em>\u00a0 which Lockhart declares to be the main source and inspiration for his collection. He also makes frequent references to Robert Southey’s\u00a0 Chronicle of the Cid<\/em> (1808) and Sismondi’s\u00a0 De la litt\u00e8rature du midi de l’ Europe<\/em>, praises James Cavanah Murphy’s architectural study on the\u00a0 Arabian Antiquities of Spain<\/em> (1815)\u00a0 and\u00a0 inevitably\u00a0 mentions\u00a0 Don\u00a0 Quixote\u00a0<\/em> which,\u00a0 as\u00a0 seen\u00a0 above,\u00a0 was\u00a0 closely linked to the inception of his collection.
\nMore specifically, the introduction addresses a whole series of critical\u00a0 issues about the romance<\/em> as genre and its recovery, starting from the thematic and chronological organization of the ballads, as Lockhart’s regrets that “is therefore, in the present state of things, quite impossible to determine to what period the composition of the oldest Spanish ballads now extant ought to be\u00a0 referred” [LOCKHART 1823, p. viii]. This he imputes to the sixteenth-century editions of\u00a0 romances such as the\u00a0 Cancionero<\/em> of “Ferdinand de Castillo” [Ibid.] that mixes modern and ancient compositions without providing any\u00a0 clear distinctions; the\u00a0 Cancionero de romances <\/em>of Antwerp; the\u00a0 Romancero historiado<\/em> of Lucas Rodr\u00ecguez; Lorenzo de Sep\u00f9lveda’s\u00a0 Cancionero,<\/em> and Escobar’s\u00a0 romances <\/em>of the Cid.<\/em> Yet, in spite of their perplexing structures, these Renaissance collections cannot disguise the evident antiquity of the\u00a0 ballads. Indeed, Lockhart goes further into detail, describing how the dating of some of the poems in the oldest edition of the\u00a0 Cancionero general<\/em> seems to be indicated by their ascription to Don Juan Manuel, the author of the Libro de Patronio or Conde Lucanor<\/em>, with a supposed terminus ante quem<\/em> of 1362. Nevertheless, the “regularity and completeness of their rhymes alone are in fact quite enough to satisfy any one who is acquainted with the usual\u00a0 style of the\u00a0 redondillas<\/em>, that the ballads of Don Juan Manuel are among the\u00a0 most modern in the whole collection” [Ibid., p. x]. This disquisition reveals that, unlike\u00a0 Bowring’s, his intended audience is\u00a0 not merely composed of general readers. Lockhart presents his volume as a\u00a0 scholarly work with connections to European scholarship, a work aimed at\u00a0 serious readers who are familiar with\u00a0 Spanish literature (he calls Don Juan\u00a0 Manuel “the celebrated author of Count Lucanor” [Ibid., p. ix]) and the\u00a0 debates about it. In point of fact, his remarks on the antiquity of the romances also contain polemical hints levelled at\u00a0 Southey, an undisputed authority on the Iberian literatures, as he observes that “some of the very expressions from which Mr Southey would seem to infer\u00a0 that the Chronicle of the Cid is a\u00a0 more ancient composition than the General Chronicle of Spain, (which last\u00a0 was written before 1384,) are quite of common occurrence in these same\u00a0 ballads, which Mr Southey considers as of comparatively modern origin” [Ibid., p. xi].
\nLockhart’s preoccupation with dates must not be seen as mere pedantry, for, by contrast, it demonstrates his\u00a0 alertness to the fact that the ancient\u00a0 literary tradition of Spain must be accurately reconstructed as a crucial period in European medieval culture, and that the dating of the romances<\/em> is a staple component in this operation. In addition, it indicates that\u00a0 Ancient Spanish\u00a0<\/em>Ballads\u00a0<\/em> is\u00a0 not\u00a0 just\u00a0 a\u00a0 book\u00a0 of\u00a0 translations,\u00a0 but\u00a0 rather\u00a0 a\u00a0 complex\u00a0 cultural\u00a0 statement on Spain and the need to reconstruct those overlooked or ignored\u00a0 aspects\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 its\u00a0\u00a0 cultural\u00a0\u00a0 past\u00a0\u00a0 which\u00a0\u00a0 even\u00a0\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0\u00a0 scholars\u00a0\u00a0 have\u00a0\u00a0 left unexamined. Thanks to its introduction, Lockhart’s collection positions itself within\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 broader\u00a0\u00a0 context\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 Romantic-period\u00a0\u00a0 accumulation\u00a0\u00a0 of knowledge on Spain in an accurate and reliable historical perspective, what\u00a0 may be collectively called the Romantic construction of Spain [see SAGLIA 2000].
\nLockhart\u00a0 has\u00a0 no\u00a0 doubt\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 romances\u00a0<\/em> are\u00a0 ancient\u00a0 and\u00a0 intensely\u00a0 national compositions: “that the Spaniards\u00a0 had<\/em> ballads of the same general\u00a0 character, and on the same subjects, at a very early period of their national\u00a0 history, is quite certain” [Ibid., p.\u00a0 x]. This significant statement marks a\u00a0 turning point in the introduction which\u00a0 then goes on to address the cultural\u00a0 peculiarities\u00a0 of\u00a0 Spain.\u00a0 Indeed,\u00a0 from\u00a0 this\u00a0 point\u00a0 onwards,\u00a0 the\u00a0 introduction\u00a0 becomes a disquisition about Spain as a cultural system that needs to be\u00a0 illustrated\u00a0 and\u00a0 explained.\u00a0 Within\u00a0 this\u00a0 wider\u00a0 agenda,\u00a0 the\u00a0 romances\u00a0 are\u00a0\u00a0 significant not merely because they provide access to the medieval heritage\u00a0 of Spain, but also because they are crucial for a reconstruction of European\u00a0 medieval civilization, in that “they form by far the oldest, as well as largest, collection of popular poetry, properly so\u00a0 called, that is to be found in the\u00a0 literature of any European nation whatever” [Ibid., p. xi].
\nLockhart also discusses the formal aspects of this type of verse, especially its metrical peculiarities in connection with the linguistic features of Spanish. Interestingly, he defines the\u00a0 redondilla<\/em> as a four-line stanza with assonant\u00a0 even lines, rather than as a quatrain of octosyllabic lines rhyming\u00a0 abba, and\u00a0 reports Jacob Grimm’s suggestion (in his Silva de romances<\/em>) that “the stanza was composed in reality of two long lines, and that these had subsequently\u00a0 been cut into four” [Ibid., p. xiii]. These formal remarks aside, the emphasis of\u00a0 the\u00a0 introduction\u00a0 is\u00a0 now\u00a0 firmly\u00a0 centred\u00a0 on\u00a0 the\u00a0 distinctive\u00a0 cultural\u00a0 and\u00a0 historical situation of Spain:<\/p>\n

How the old Spaniards should have come to be so much more wealthy in this sort of possession than any\u00a0 of their neighbours, it is not very\u00a0 easy to say. They had their taste for warlike song in common with all the other members of the great Gothic family, and they had a fine\u00a0 climate, affording, of course, more leisure for amusement than could\u00a0 have ben enjoyed beneath the rougher sky of the north. The flexibility of\u00a0 their\u00a0 beautiful\u00a0 language,\u00a0 and\u00a0 the\u00a0 extreme\u00a0 simplicity\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 versification adopted in their ballads, must, no doubt, have lightened\u00a0 the labour, and may have consequently increased the number of their professional minstrels. [Ibid., pp. xi-xii]\n

Here\u00a0 Lockhart\u00a0 evidently\u00a0 resorts\u00a0 to\u00a0 all\u00a0 the\u00a0 customary\u00a0 arguments\u00a0 and\u00a0 explanations which, together with the peculiarities of the national character,\u00a0 were usually employed to account for\u00a0 the specific cultural manifestations of the Iberian nation: from proto-ethnographic notions of a common Gothic race and\u00a0 character,\u00a0 to\u00a0 climate\u00a0 and\u00a0 geography\u00a0 or\u00a0 the\u00a0 existence\u00a0 of\u00a0 a\u00a0 class\u00a0 of\u00a0 “professional minstrels” Thus, he presents the ballads as deeply rooted in the geographical and cultural conditions of medieval Spain, a point he reiterates\u00a0 when he remarks that, in the Spanish tradition, historical ballads are more\u00a0 numerous than other types because they represent “the popular poetry of a\u00a0 nation\u00a0 proud,\u00a0 haughty,\u00a0 free,\u00a0 and\u00a0 engaged\u00a0 in\u00a0 continual\u00a0 warfare\u00a0 against\u00a0 enemies\u00a0 of\u00a0 different\u00a0 faith\u00a0 and\u00a0 manners,\u00a0 but\u00a0 not\u00a0 less\u00a0 proud\u00a0 and\u00a0 not\u00a0 less\u00a0 warlike than themselves” [Ibid., p. xiv]. The Oriental components of Spanish medieval history and culture are also of paramount importance. For, although it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty to what extent Spanish\u00a0 language and literature are indebted to Eastern influences, there can be no doubt “that great and remarkable influence was<\/em> exerted over Spanish thought and feeling – and, therefore, over Spanish language and poetry – by the\u00a0 influx of those Oriental tribes that occupied, for seven long centuries, the\u00a0 fairest provinces of the Peninsula” [Ibid., p. xv].
\nThese remarks prepare the ground for further observations on the Muslim domination and civilization in Spain, its integration of the different cultures\u00a0 and religions and the beginnings of the Christian military resistance and\u00a0 reconquest of the peninsula. Once these topics have been dealt with, the\u00a0 introduction\u00a0\u00a0 rapidly\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 slightly\u00a0\u00a0 unexpectedly\u00a0\u00a0 swerves\u00a0\u00a0 to\u00a0\u00a0 focus\u00a0\u00a0 on contemporary Spain: “There is, indeed, nothing more natural, at first sight, than to reason in some measure from a nation as it is in our own day, back to what\u00a0\u00a0 it\u00a0\u00a0 was\u00a0\u00a0 a\u00a0\u00a0 few\u00a0\u00a0 centuries\u00a0\u00a0 ago”\u00a0 [Ibid.,\u00a0\u00a0 pp.\u00a0\u00a0 xviii-xix].\u00a0\u00a0 But\u00a0\u00a0 this transhistorically comparative approach would only produce mistakes in the case of a country such as Spain, because, apart from the peasantry, “the progress of corruption appears to have been not less powerful than rapid\uffbb\u00a0 within the fabric of Spanish society “[Ibid., p. xix]. Thus drawing attention to the peculiar situation of Spain in the present, Lockhart calls for a careful\u00a0 examination of the links between contemporaneity and the past in the crucial phases of its historical development.
\nThis\u00a0 shift\u00a0 makes\u00a0 the\u00a0 initial\u00a0 discussion\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 literary\u00a0 features\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 romances<\/em> converge into a cultural analysis\u00a0 of Spain, as the values inscribed\u00a0 in the poems are a testament to its past greatness and a patent indication of\u00a0 the current fallen state of the national character. If “the modern Spaniards\u00a0 [are] the most bigoted and enslaved and ignorant of Europeans” [Ibid.], yet\u00a0 only\u00a0 “three\u00a0 centuries\u00a0 back” the\u00a0 situation\u00a0 was\u00a0 radically\u00a0 different,\u00a0 when\u00a0 “Castille, in the first regulation of her constitution, was as free as any nation needs to be, for all the purposes of social security and individual happiness”[Ibid.].\u00a0 By\u00a0 this\u00a0 indirect\u00a0 reference\u00a0 to\u00a0 such\u00a0 historical,\u00a0 yet\u00a0 also\u00a0 heavily mythologized, phenomena as the\u00a0 cortes<\/em> and the\u00a0 comuneros<\/em> of Castile, the\u00a0 essentially Tory Lockhart posits the “liberality of the old Spaniards” [Ibid. p. xxi] as an anticipation of the principles of modern nation-states that might\u00a0 constitute the basis for a renovation of the present-day country.
\nIn this account Spain becomes visible as a geocultural dimension uneasily caught up in the discontinuities between past and present. A country that\u00a0 could boast a medieval ‘constitution’ ensuring social and individual freedom is now in the throes of a troubled process of adjustment to the forces of\u00a0 contemporaneity. In Lockhart’s picture,\u00a0 the ancient principles of ‘liberality’\u00a0 that seemed to promise a positive cultural and historical development are in\u00a0 stark contrast with the complex evolution of recent Spanish history, from the tragedy of the Napoleonic war to the return of absolutism in 1814 and the ill- fated liberal constitutional monarchy of 1820-23. By contrast, the\u00a0 romances<\/em> enshrine\u00a0\u00a0 “the\u00a0\u00a0 strongest\u00a0\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 best\u00a0\u00a0 proof” \u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 Spaniards’\u00a0 original “comparative liberality” [Ibid., p. xxi], and again the presence of the Moors\u00a0 is a crucial test of this original situation:<\/p>\n

Throughout the far greater part of those compositions there breathes a certain spirit of charity and humanity towards those Moorish enemies with whom the combats of the national heroes are represented. The\u00a0 Spaniards\u00a0 and\u00a0 Moors\u00a0 lived\u00a0 together\u00a0 in\u00a0 their\u00a0 villages\u00a0 beneath\u00a0 the\u00a0 calmest\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 skies,\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 surrounded\u00a0 with\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 most\u00a0\u00a0 beautiful\u00a0\u00a0 of landscapes. In spite of their adverse faiths – in spite of their adverse interests – they had much in common. [Ibid. pp. xxi-ii]\n

\u00a0This spirit of peaceful multicultural\u00a0 coexistence additionally translates\u00a0 into\u00a0 forms\u00a0 of\u00a0 intercultural\u00a0 exchange.\u00a0 For,\u00a0 as\u00a0 Lockhart\u00a0 observes,\u00a0 some\u00a0 ballads, “unquestionably of Moorish origin”, were composed “by a Moor or a Spaniard (it is often very difficult to determine by which of the two), they\u00a0 were sung in the village greens of Andalusia in either language, but to the\u00a0 same tunes, and listened to with equal pleasure by man, woman, and child \uff96 Mussulman and Christian” [Ibid. p. xxiii]. In spite of the patent improbability of\u00a0 Andalusian\u00a0 “village\u00a0 greens”\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0 words\u00a0 delineate\u00a0 an\u00a0 idealized image of interracial and intercultural exchanges in spite of profound cultural differences. This picture obviously contrasts with that of a contemporary\u00a0 Spain riven by the divisions between liberals and conservatives inherited\u00a0 from the\u00a0 guerra de la independencia<\/em> of 1808-14. In addition, it may also\u00a0 apply to the situation of Britain and Ireland, and specifically refer to the\u00a0 resurgence of the Irish question and the campaign for Catholic emancipation which, gathering momentum in the early 1820s, led to the creation of the\u00a0 influential Catholic Association in 1823.
\nOn\u00a0 the\u00a0 one\u00a0 hand,\u00a0 Lockhart\u00a0 reorganizes\u00a0 the\u00a0 principal\u00a0 components\u00a0 of\u00a0 Romantic-period\u00a0 constructions\u00a0 of\u00a0 Spain\u00a0 and\u00a0 its\u00a0 culture,\u00a0 insisting\u00a0 on\u00a0 the \u00a0reasons for its peculiarity, its distinction from the rest of Europe. Yet, on the other, his introduction does not exclusively promote an ‘othering’ of Spain, because, as seen above, the\u00a0 romances are an integral and essential part of a\u00a0 European cultural dimension made up of different developments. In addition, his account does not aim to ascribe Spain to a distant past, presenting it as a pre-modern\u00a0 society\u00a0 or\u00a0 a\u00a0 country\u00a0 irrevocably\u00a0 destined\u00a0 for\u00a0 decline\u00a0 and decadence. Instead, Lockhart’s investigation of the medieval past of Spain\u00a0 leads to an unexpected examination of its present that ultimately envisages\u00a0 the Iberian nation and its current problems as part of the contemporaneity of Europe and not as an isolated “closed\u00a0 system” relegated to the other side of\u00a0 the Pyrenees [GUILLEN 1998, p. 363].
\nMore\u00a0 than\u00a0 an\u00a0 introduction\u00a0 to\u00a0 a\u00a0 collection\u00a0 of\u00a0 poems,\u00a0 the\u00a0 preface\u00a0 to\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0 Ancient\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 Ballads\u00a0<\/em> deserves\u00a0 specific\u00a0 attention\u00a0 for\u00a0 its\u00a0\u00a0 delineation of a geocultural map of Spain, past and present, and its European relevance. It draws on history, geography, linguistics, anthropo-ethnography\u00a0 and\u00a0 literature\u00a0 to\u00a0 ‘write’ Spain\u00a0 and\u00a0 therefore\u00a0 provide\u00a0 an\u00a0 extremely wide- ranging\u00a0 and\u00a0 homogeneous\u00a0 account\u00a0 with\u00a0 clear\u00a0 ideological \u00a0and\u00a0 political resonance. Additionally, the cultural orientation of the introduction puts into perspective Lockhart’s opening remarks on Spanish scholarly belatedness\u00a0 and his justification of foreign specialist constructions of this culture. For the overtones of cultural superiority (and cultural imperialism) of his approach\u00a0 fade away, as his analysis of Spain becomes an attempt to define the role and position of this nation in the development of European culture and history.
\nAn important contribution to the rediscovery of Spain and its unique\u00a0 literary heritage, Lockhart’s volume\u00a0 did not go unnoticed. It was mentioned\u00a0 in the Edinburgh Review<\/em> and was the object of a long and appreciative article in\u00a0\u00a0 Blackwood’s\u00a0 Magazine<\/em>\u00a0 for\u00a0 March\u00a0 1823.\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0 biographer,\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0 Scottish man of letters and translator\u00a0 of French ballads Andrew Lang, later\u00a0 remarked that the collection was “The work which probably made Lockhart\uff92s name best and most widely known to the world of readers at that day” [LANG 1897, I, p. 313]. An unquestionable indication of its popularity were William Gifford’s words in a letter to Scott of 13 February 1823: “Some of the\u00a0 translations I have got by heart” [qtd in Ibid., I, p. 319].
\nAn authoritative and reliable source of textual and contextual information on the\u00a0 romances<\/em>, Lockhart’s volume left numerous traces in later works on\u00a0 Spain. Thus, Thomas Roscoe frequently\u00a0 referred to it in the narratives he\u00a0 wrote for\u00a0 Jennings Landscape Annuals<\/em> on Granada and Andalusia. In these\u00a0 volumes, he regularly intersperses his accounts of the history and geography of these regions with ballads and other poetic excerpts both in his own\u00a0 translations or drawn from a variety of sources such as Percy, Byron and Lockhart. At the end of the volume on\u00a0 Granada, Roscoe informs the reader\u00a0 that he “regrets that want of space should prevent him giving the noble\u00a0 Ballad\u00a0 on\u00a0 this\u00a0 subject\u00a0 [the\u00a0 seven\u00a0 infantes\u00a0 de\u00a0 Lara],\u00a0 and\u00a0 that\u00a0 on\u00a0 Alonzo d’Aguilar, – the gems of Mr. Lockhart’s Spanish Ballads” [ROSCOE 2007, p. 288]. A few years later, in the second edition of his translation of Sismondi’s De la litt\u00e8rature du midi de l’Europe<\/em> (originally published in 1823), Roscoe\u00a0 inserted a series of references to Lockhart’s work, as well as excerpts taken\u00a0 from his translations [SISMONDI 1846, II, pp. 132-3].
\nBetween 1823 and the end of the century, Ancient Spanish Ballads<\/em> went through several editions, the most outstanding of which was issued by John\u00a0 Murray in 1841. Illustrated from drawings by William Allan, David Roberts, William\u00a0 Simson,\u00a0 Henry\u00a0 Warren,\u00a0 C.E.\u00a0 Aubrey\u00a0 and\u00a0 William\u00a0 Harvey,\u00a0 it\u00a0\u00a0 featured borders and vignettes drawn by the architect Owen Jones, one of the Victorian\u00a0 authorities\u00a0 on\u00a0 the\u00a0 Alhambra\u00a0 and\u00a0 Moorish\u00a0 architecture\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 ornamentation.
\nDuring his visit to Spain in 1834\u00a0 with his friend Jules Goury, Jones\u00a0 visited Granada’s royal palace and, fascinated by its complex ornamental\u00a0 schemes, set out to sketch them in painstaking detail. This resulted in the\u00a0 two-volume\u00a0 Plans,\u00a0 Elevations,\u00a0 Sections,\u00a0 and\u00a0 Details\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Alhambra<\/em> published between 1842 and 1845, although sections of the book had already gone on sale in 1836. An invaluable study of polychromy in the Muslim\u00a0 tradition,\u00a0 Jones’\u00a0 was\u00a0 also\u00a0 the\u00a0 first\u00a0 book\u00a0 to\u00a0 contain\u00a0 coloured\u00a0 illustrations\u00a0 produced\u00a0 through\u00a0 the\u00a0 process\u00a0 of\u00a0 chromolithography.\u00a0 More\u00a0 generally,\u00a0 his\u00a0 volume\u00a0 contributed\u00a0 to\u00a0 popularizing\u00a0 further\u00a0 the\u00a0 Moorish\u00a0 architecture\u00a0 of\u00a0 Southern Spain and extending the debate on its history and interpretations. Making the architect an authority on\u00a0 the\u00a0 subject,\u00a0 the\u00a0 book\u00a0 constituted\u00a0 a\u00a0 prelude to his landmark\u00a0 Grammar of Ornament<\/em> (1856) and earned him the\u00a0 commission to design the Alhambra Court in the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851 [see FLORES 2006, pp. 15-33].
\nProduced\u00a0 by\u00a0 Vizetelly\u00a0 of\u00a0 Fleet\u00a0 Street,\u00a0 Murray’s\u00a0 edition\u00a0 of\u00a0 Ancient Spanish Ballads<\/em> pionereed a unique combination of illustration, decoration and advanced printing techniques. Its real innovations were Jones’ designs for the book cover, title-pages, vignettes and borders. His delicately intricate and\u00a0 beautifully\u00a0 reproduced\u00a0 embellishments\u00a0 “gave\u00a0 unprecedented\u00a0 artistic unity and distinction to the work and established a new direction in book\u00a0 publishing” [Ibid.,\u00a0 p. 38]. A luxurious artefact, the volume was marketed as\u00a0 the most beautiful book ever published and proved an immediate commercial success. Over two thousand copies of the first edition were sold in 1841,\u00a0 while the following year a second edition was sold just as quickly [Ibid.,\u00a0 p. 36].<\/p>\n

However, more generally affordable versions of Lockhart’s work also continued to appear until the end of the century. In 1870 Murray issued a\u00a0 cheaper\u00a0 illustrated\u00a0 edition\u00a0 more\u00a0 in\u00a0 keeping\u00a0 with\u00a0 the\u00a0 current\u00a0 taste\u00a0 in\u00a0\u00a0 illustrations:\u00a0 Ancient Spanish Ballads; Historical and Romantic<\/em> “translated\u00a0 by J.G. Lockhart, new edition, with\u00a0 portrait and illustrations” (John Murray, London\u00a0 1870).\u00a0 Again,\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 1870s,\u00a0 Frederick\u00a0 Warne\u00a0 published\u00a0 a\u00a0 joint\u00a0 edition of Lockhar’s ballads<\/em> and Southey’s\u00a0 Chronicle of the Cid<\/em> with the\u00a0 title of The Spanish Ballads<\/em> “translated by J.G. Lockhart, and The Chronicle of the Cid,<\/em> by Robert Southey” (Frederick Warne, London 1873?). The book appeared in the “Chandos Classics” series, and the preface to the ballads appropriately\u00a0 announced\u00a0\u00a0 that\u00a0\u00a0 “The\u00a0\u00a0 Publishers,\u00a0\u00a0 in\u00a0 \u00a0uniting\u00a0\u00a0 with\u00a0\u00a0 them Southey’s fine translation of the ‘Chronicle of the Cid’, believe that they are adding to the value and interest of these charming Ballads by presenting at\u00a0 the same time a perfect picture of the\u00a0 Spanish mind at the most striking and\u00a0 interesting period of national history” [LOCKHART 1873?, p. v]\n

\u00a0 The\u00a0 fortunes\u00a0 of\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0 collection\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 later\u00a0 nineteenth\u00a0 century\u00a0 testify\u00a0 to\u00a0 its\u00a0 authoritativeness\u00a0 and\u00a0 its\u00a0 uninterrupted\u00a0 popularization\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 romances<\/em> among British readers. On the one hand, it offered a rich\u00a0 and\u00a0\u00a0 homogeneous\u00a0\u00a0 selection\u00a0\u00a0 of\u00a0\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0\u00a0 ballads\u00a0\u00a0 in\u00a0\u00a0 line\u00a0\u00a0 with\u00a0\u00a0 other contemporary collections produced in Germany and France. In this fashion, it gave English-language readers access to a ballad corpus “unsurpassed in\u00a0 Europe for their number, vigour, influence, dramatic intensity, and veracity” [ENTWISTLE 1939, p. 152]. On the other hand, its introduction offered what\u00a0 has recently been defined as an example of “an antiquarian approach to\u00a0 popular culture, in line with Walter Scott’s work on Scottish border ballads” [PYM and STYLE 2006, pp. 263-4]. More specifically, Lockhart’s prefatory\u00a0 remarks provided readers with an interpretation of Spain as a multifaceted\u00a0 cultural\u00a0 complex,\u00a0 and\u00a0 an\u00a0 interpretation\u00a0 of\u00a0 this\u00a0 country’s\u00a0 civilization\u00a0 that\u00a0 bridged the gap between the Middle Ages and the early 1820s. By expanding its focus from the\u00a0 romances<\/em> to a wider panorama of geocultural issues, the\u00a0 introduction presents a picture of Spain and its relations with other European traditions\u00a0 that\u00a0 makes\u00a0 Lockhart’s\u00a0 Ancient\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 Ballads<\/em>\u00a0 an\u00a0 exemplary instance of the wide-ranging process of cultural construction of the Iberian nation in Romantic-period Britain.<\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • \u00a0ABIADA, J. M. Lopez de, y\u00a0 BERNASOCCHI, A. LOPEZ, : Imagenes\u00a0 de Espana en culturas y literaturas europeas<\/em> (siglos XVI-XVII), Madrid,\u00a0 Verbum. eds. 2004.<\/li>\n
  • BOWRING, J. : Ancient Poetry and Romances of Spain<\/em>, London, Taylor and Hessey. 1824.<\/li>\n
  • BUCETA, E.\u00a0 “Traducciones inglesas de romances en el primer tercio del siglo XIX. Notas acerca de la difusion del hispanismo en la Gran Bretana y en los Estados Unidos”, Revue hispanique<\/em>, 62, pp. 459-555. 1924.<\/li>\n
  • CURRAN, S.: Poetic Form and British Romanticism<\/em>, New York and\u00a0 Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1986<\/li>\n
  • ENTWISTLE, W.J. : European Balladry<\/em>, Oxford, Clarendon Press.1939<\/li>\n
  • \u00a0FLORES, C. A. Hrvol :\u00a0 Owen Jones: Design, Ornament, Architecture,\u00a0 and Theory in an Age of Transition,<\/em> New York, Rizzoli 2006.<\/li>\n
  • GIES, D.T. :\u00a0Agust\u00ecn Duran: A Biography\u00a0 and Literary Appreciation<\/em>, London, Tamesis Books. 1975<\/li>\n
  • GUILLEN, C. : Multiples moradas: ensayo de literatura comparada<\/em>, Barcelona, Tusquets. 1998<\/li>\n
  • HAYNES, K.: “Oral Literature”, in\u00a0 The Oxford History of Literary\u00a0 Translation in English,<\/em> gen. ed. Peter France and Stuart Gillespie, vol.\u00a0 4: 1790-1900, ed. Peter France and Kenneth Haynes, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 430-440. 2006.<\/li>\n
  • LANG, A.: The Life and Letters of John Gibson Lockhart<\/em>, 2 vols, London, John C. Nimmo, New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1897<\/li>\n
  • LOCKHART,\u00a0 J.G.,\u00a0 trans.:\u00a0 Ancient\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 Ballads,\u00a0 Historical\u00a0 and\u00a0 Romantic<\/em>, Edinburgh, William Blackwood, London,<\/li>\n
  • THOMAS CADELL. : The Spanish Ballads, and\u00a0 SOUTHEY R.: The Chronicle of the Cid,<\/em> London, Frederick Warne. 1873?<\/li>\n
  • \u00a0LOCKHART,\u00a0 J.G. :\u00a0 Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott,<\/em> 5 vols, London and New York, 1900<\/li>\n
  • Macmillan. PEERS, E. A:\u00a0 A History of the Romantic Movement in Spain,<\/em> 2 vols, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 1940<\/li>\n
  • PIDAL,\u00a0 R.\u00a0 MENENDEZ :\u00a0 Romancero\u00a0 Hispanico\u00a0 (hispano-portugu\u00e9s, americano y sefard\u00ec): teor\u00eca e historia,<\/em> 2 vols, Madrid, Espasa-Calpe. 1953<\/li>\n
  • \u00a0PYM, A. and STYLE, J. : “Spanish and Portuguese”, in\u00a0 The Oxford\u00a0 History of Literary Translation in English<\/em>, gen. ed. Peter France and Stuart\u00a0 Gillespie, vol. 4:\u00a0 1790-1900, ed. Peter France and Kenneth Haynes, Oxford\u00a0 and New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 261-273. 2006<\/li>\n
  • ROSCOE,\u00a0 T.\u00a0 :\u00a0 Jennings\u00a0 Landscape\u00a0 Annual\u00a0 for\u00a0 1835,\u00a0 or\u00a0 Tourist\u00a0 in\u00a0 Spain,\u00a0 Commencing\u00a0 with\u00a0 Granada<\/em>,\u00a0 illustrated\u00a0 from\u00a0 drawings\u00a0 by\u00a0 David\u00a0 Roberts\u00a0 (London,\u00a0 Robert\u00a0 Jennings\u00a0 and\u00a0 co.,\u00a0 1835),\u00a0 Sevilla,\u00a0 Extramuros\u00a0 Edicion.\u00a0 2007<\/li>\n
  • SAGLIA,\u00a0 D. :\u00a0 “British\u00a0 Romantic\u00a0 Translations\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 ‘Romance\u00a0 de lhama’ and ‘Moro Alcayde’ 1775-1818”, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies<\/em>, 76. pp. 35-56.\u00a0 1999<\/li>\n
  • _________ :\u00a0\u00a0 Poetic\u00a0\u00a0 Castles\u00a0\u00a0 in\u00a0\u00a0 Spain:\u00a0\u00a0 British\u00a0\u00a0 Romanticism\u00a0\u00a0 and Figurations of Iberia,<\/em> Amsterdam and Atlanta, Rodopi. 2000<\/li>\n
  • SISMONDI, J.C.L. Simonde de : Historical View of the Literature of the South of Europe<\/em>, translated from the original, with notes, and a life of the\u00a0 author by Thomas Roscoe, London, Henry G. Bohn, 2 vols. 1846<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Diego Saglia Spain – bold, ardent, melancholy Spain – the only land in Europe that the children of the East seem to have cared to make their home; – the nurse of romance, after it left its cradle in the Arab desarts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTranslating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads - Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads - Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Diego Saglia Spain – bold, ardent, melancholy Spain – the only land in Europe that the children of the East seem to have cared to make their home; – the nurse of romance, after it left its cradle in the Arab desarts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-02T10:44:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-09T17:26:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Redazione06\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Scritto da\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Redazione06\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Tempo di lettura stimato\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"28 minuti\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/\",\"name\":\"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads - Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-02T10:44:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-09T17:26:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#\/schema\/person\/5f4a2b7381b920e68c6ca8c149cbc1b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart’s Ancient Spanish Ballads\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/\",\"name\":\"Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#\/schema\/person\/5f4a2b7381b920e68c6ca8c149cbc1b3\",\"name\":\"Redazione06\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"it-IT\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ea4047689911444293a2db6a69d2a44?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ea4047689911444293a2db6a69d2a44?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Redazione06\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/author\/redazione06\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads - Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/","og_locale":"it_IT","og_type":"article","og_title":"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads - Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo","og_description":"Diego Saglia Spain – bold, ardent, melancholy Spain – the only land in Europe that the children of the East seem to have cared to make their home; – the nurse of romance, after it left its cradle in the Arab desarts","og_url":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/","og_site_name":"Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo","article_published_time":"2012-10-02T10:44:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-11-09T17:26:32+00:00","author":"Redazione06","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Scritto da":"Redazione06","Tempo di lettura stimato":"28 minuti"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/","url":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/","name":"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart's Ancient Spanish Ballads - Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-10-02T10:44:17+00:00","dateModified":"2016-11-09T17:26:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#\/schema\/person\/5f4a2b7381b920e68c6ca8c149cbc1b3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"it-IT","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/translating-romances-writing-spain-john-gibson-lockharts-ancient-spanish-ballads\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Translating Romances, Writing Spain: John Gibson Lockhart’s Ancient Spanish Ballads"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/","name":"Centro Interuniversitario per lo Studio del Romanticismo","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"it-IT"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#\/schema\/person\/5f4a2b7381b920e68c6ca8c149cbc1b3","name":"Redazione06","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"it-IT","@id":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ea4047689911444293a2db6a69d2a44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ea4047689911444293a2db6a69d2a44?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Redazione06"},"url":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/author\/redazione06\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2512"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5915,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2512\/revisions\/5915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lilec.it\/romanticismo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}