Una lectura crítica de

Abstract

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.