Una lectura crítica de "The Bible in Spain", de George P. Borrow
Author
Vilar, MarDate
1996Abstract
In 1842 the English essayist George P. Borrow (1803-1881) published
The Bible in Spain, autobiographic work, in which he reports on
his activities and adventures in Spain as an agent of the “British and
Foreign Bible Society” between 1835 and 1839. The book succeeded to
such an extent that the first year seven editions were released followed
by many others in successive years both in Great Britain and in the
United States, and it was worthy of being immediately translated into
the German, French and Russian languages. Amongst the works that
touch upon Hispanic subjects, this one may have been the most read
book within the English-speaking world during the first half of the 19th
century Nevertheless in Spain it was practically unknown until its translation
by M. Azaña in 1920-1921. The young hellenist S. Usoz, who
met and knew Borrow in Madrid, in his letter addressed to the hispanist
Benjamin B. Wiffen, dated in 27th January 1844 (papers at Wadham
College, Oxford), refers with full particulars to The Bible in Spain, which
he read in its original language as soon as it was published. This testimony
gives the key to the cold reception this work has got in the South
of the Pyrenees and the silence that surrounded it in our country for a
century, in spite of being one of the most beautiful books ever written
in Spain.