Confessio Amantis: Literatura moral y materia amorosa en Inglaterra y la Península Ibérica (siglos XIV-XV). Confessio Amantis, John Gower; Confissão do Amante (Robret Payn tr.) ; Confysión del Amante (Juan de Cuenca tr.). Edición trilingüe. 2 vols.
- Author/Editor
- Alvar, Elena, Antonio Ocaña Cortijo and Manuela Faccon, eds.
- Title
- Confessio Amantis: Literatura moral y materia amorosa en Inglaterra y la Península Ibérica (siglos XIV-XV). Confessio Amantis, John Gower; Confissão do Amante (Robret Payn tr.) ; Confysión del Amante (Juan de Cuenca tr.). Edición trilingüe. 2 vols.
- Published
- Alvar, Elena, Antonio Ocaña Cortijo and Manuela Faccon, eds. Confessio Amantis: Literatura moral y materia amorosa en Inglaterra y la Península Ibérica (siglos XIV-XV). Confessio Amantis, John Gower; Confissão do Amante (Robret Payn tr.) ; Confysión del Amante (Juan de Cuenca tr.). Edición trilingüe. 2 vols. (San Millán de la Cogolla: Cilengua, 2018).
- Review
- "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue": Since 1990, when Elena Alvar published her edition of the "Confysion del Amante," the Castilian translation of the "Confessio Amantis," the study of the "Iberian Gower" has experienced a significant boost, first as a result of the discovery of the manuscript with Portuguese translation in 1995, then with the editions of some of its books by Antonio Cortijo and others by Manuela Faccon, and with the celebration of the Third International Gower Congress in Spain in 2011. This trilingual edition of the text is a much-awaited new peak of that progression. Not only does it bring together the partial editions in a single and uniform publication, but its introduction succeeds as well in collecting and updating what is known about the Portuguese and Castilian medieval versions of the CA, their manuscripts, the translators and the translations, and the literary context in which they were produced, with a particular emphasis on the latter. Without question, these are all invaluable resources for researchers interested in the study of the Iberian CAs, or in the larger manuscript history of Gower's poem. The parallel disposition of Middle English, medieval Portuguese and medieval Castilian throughout the two volumes is, in that regard, priceless for anyone wishing to study the texts comparatively. The editors use Macaulay's edition for the Middle English text, and Elena Alvar's for the Castilian (without her paleographical notations, and modernizing some graphical aspects); in the case of the Portuguese text, the partial editions by Cortijo and Faccon are used, also with a slightly modernized spelling, capitalization and punctuation, in order--as the editors note--to enhance the intelligibility of the Iberian texts for modern readers. While this is certainly achieved, the challenges posed by the parallel edition of three texts--one of them in verse--have been less successfully resolved. Even in two substantial volumes the layout results in a very packed page of tiny print. Although to some degree visual aids of tables/charts separating the texts and their sections are helpful, headings fail to provide any reference to individual Books of the poem--a decision that makes following the text quite a laborious task. Nevertheless, this trilingual edition represents a significant milestone for Gower studies, and its availability for readers and researchers of Gower and his reception is most welcome. [ASH. Copyright. The John Gower Society. eJGN 39.1.]
- Date
- 2018
- Gower Subjects
- Confessio Amantis
Facsimiles, Editions, and Translations
Manuscripts and Textual Studies