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Jose de Espronceda: The Student of Salamanca

Translated by C. K. Davies with an Introduction and Notes by Richard A. Cardwell~

In this impressive 'verse legend' Espronceda creates an original interpretation of the famous Don Juan legend whereby he produces a Romantic 'counter-text' which gives voice to what we now recognise as a central part of the modern philosophical condition: the Romantic vision of an all-pervasive cosmic injustice. Professor Cardwell, in his introduction, shows how in the person of Felix de Montemar, Espronceda has created one of Europe's first rebellious literary heroes, standing alone, noble and defiant, in the face of all the evil and pain in the world. Thus Espronceda takes his place alongside other major European Romantic writers; Byron, Lermontov, Heine, Vigny, Leopardi and Mickiewitz; expressing, as they do, man's existential protest, noblest ideals and his modern sense of human condition which directly informs our own twentieth century literary achievements. Davies' meticulous translation of this poem, mirroring the metrical and stylistic virtuosity of Espronceda's original, presents it for the first time to English readers, since its composition 150 years ago. 160p (Aris & Phillips 1991)

Table of contents

Foreword
Select Bibliography
Introduction: Espronceda's life and intellectual formation
The Student of Salamanca
Sources
The Cuento and tradition
Felix and the romantic gothic
Felix the romantic
Felix the seeker for truth
Felix the rebel
Part four: Structure and technique
Crime and punishment
God and justice
Humorismo
The quest for perfect love
Polimetria and style
Romantic style and the self
Conclusion
The Student of Salamanca / El estudiante de Salamanca :Part one to part four
Notes to the Translation.

Biographical note

Keith Davies is a living link with the first flowering of Spanish studies in Britain. Graduating in 1926 from the University of Liverpool, he was one of the earliest pupils of Allison Peers and the first who read only Spanish. The translation of this poem occupied him for no less than thirty-eight years, as he taught at the Westcliff High School for Boys before embarking on a second career as an art agent. Richard Cardwell, Professor of Hispanic Studies, University of Nottingham, and Miembro Correspondiente de la Real Academia Sevillana de Buenas Letras, is the author of the Tamesis Espronceda Collection.

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