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Audiobook edition · 13 h 56 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How does a literature grow from epic songs into a world of rogues, knights, mystics and playwrights?
In A History of Spanish Literature, James Fitzmaurice-Kelly gives English readers a connected path through Spain’s writing. He begins with medieval poems and chronicles, including the Cantar de mio Cid, then follows the changes of the Renaissance. Fernando de Rojas’s Celestina helps mark a world of new forms and new rogues.
Miguel de Cervantes stands at the centre of this survey. Around him, Fitzmaurice-Kelly traces the rise of Spain’s great theatre, the weaker years of the eighteenth century and the nineteenth-century revival. He offers judgments as well as history, explaining what he values in each writer and showing how one age answers another.
What you’ll discover
- Roots in epic song Begin with the Cantar de mio Cid and the warrior at its heart.
- A Renaissance of change Explore Celestina as Spanish writers turn toward new forms and a wider world.
- Cervantes at the centre Meet the writer who anchors Fitzmaurice-Kelly’s account, guided by a scholar of his life.
- The stage comes forward Follow the rise of national drama through the theatre of Spain’s Golden Age.
- Decline and renewed colour Trace the passage from thinner literary years to Romanticism’s passion in poetry and drama.
Who will love it
For readers who love a clear map of Spanish writing before exploring Cervantes, Lope de Vega or Calderón, and students who enjoy an orderly survey of medieval epics, Renaissance writers and the Spanish stage.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Spain's writing begins in song and chronicle
- The Renaissance brings new forms and new rogues
- Cervantes stands at the centre of the story
- The theatre of the Golden Age
- Decline, imitation and a slow recovery
- The nineteenth century and the critic's view
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- 15-minute summary
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Geschichte der spanischen Literatur
by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly · 1898
From medieval songs to Cervantes and the Spanish stage, discover how Spain's writers shape a literature.
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In short
A History of Spanish Literature was written by James Fitzmaurice-Kelly and first published in 1898. He was a British scholar who spent his working life on Spanish books and Spanish writers.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Spain's writing begins in song and chronicle
The oldest great poem is the Cantar de mio Cid, an epic about the Castilian warrior Rodrigo Díaz, known as the Cid. Its lines are plain, rough and direct, and the hero is a loyal vassal who is wronged by his king yet still serves him. The author treats it as the starting stone of everything that follows.
He then looks at the learned verse of the thirteenth century. Gonzalo de Berceo, a priest, wrote devout poems about saints and the Virgin Mary in simple language that ordinary listeners could follow. King Alfonso X, called the Wise, gathered scholars at his court and helped make Castilian a language fit for history, law and science. Fitzmaurice-Kelly values this moment because prose in Spanish grows up under his direction.
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What is A History of Spanish Literature about?
It is a survey of Spanish writing from the medieval epics and ballads through the Renaissance, the age of Cervantes and the theatre of the seventeenth century, to the novelists and poets of the nineteenth century.
Who was James Fitzmaurice-Kelly?
He was a British scholar of Spanish who taught at King's College London and died in 1923. He is best known for his work on Cervantes and for this survey, which helped introduce Spanish literature to English readers.
When was A History of Spanish Literature written?
It was first published in 1898. That means it covers writers up to the end of the nineteenth century and does not include the twentieth century.
The author
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly
1858–1923 · British scholar of Spanish literature
James Fitzmaurice-Kelly was a British scholar of Spanish language and literature. He was born in Glasgow in 1858 and died in 1923. He lived and worked in Britain, teaching Spanish at universities. He wrote A History of Spanish Literature, published in 1898, and other studies of Spanish writers.
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