Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Polyphemus (Towards a new framework for reception: Gongora’s poetics, ‘new’ readers and the material world)

Teaser

Luis de Góngora is perhaps the most complex poet in the history of Spanish lyric poetry in the 1600s. The difficulty presented by his poetry initiated a significant theoretical debate in the seventeenth century. Researchers of Spanish Golden Age lyric poetry have commonly...

Summary

Luis de Góngora is perhaps the most complex poet in the history of Spanish lyric poetry in the 1600s. The difficulty presented by his poetry initiated a significant theoretical debate in the seventeenth century. Researchers of Spanish Golden Age lyric poetry have commonly focused their interests on the study of his poetry through its commentators and imitators. This lead to the promotion of the idea that his works were read by a select minority, omitting the existence of many other readers at that time.
This project proposes a new methodological paradigm that combines analysis of material evidence with a new theoretical conceptualisation about literary reception. On the one hand, existing printed material and manuscripts offer a valuable first-hand insight which has been previously overlooked, such as names of owners or copyists, reading notes (underlining or marks on the text), and handwritten notes (whether reflecting content or not). On the other hand, the existence of seventeenth- century library inventories, either of individual or institutional collections – accessible in a range of forms, such as elaborate catalogues or simple book sale lists – contribute much information about actual ownership of Góngora’s works. Ultimately, the study of these material, historical, and bibliographical sources more accurately illuminates the profile of real readers of the poet’s work.
This methodological model, established in order to reconceptualise the reception of one of the most significant Spanish poets, may be applied to the interdisciplinary study of the reception of any literary work of European modernity.

This project considers, amongst other aspects, what the reading practices of Spanish society were actually like in the Modern Age, the historical period of Imperial Spain known as the ‘Golden Age’ of art and literature. In order to examine and better understand the history of this period, it is fundamentally important to know who was reading and how they did it. In fact, these practices have essentially been maintained to the present day, notwithstanding the emergence of new technology and the internet that have offered new ways of reading.
The implementation of this research has pointed to the need to preserve Spanish bibliographical and archival heritage and to disseminate it and present it in the best possible manner to interested parties. European society has an obligation to value cultural heritage preservation, thanks to which we still have access to those literary, historical, philosophical, and scientific works which have shaped our cultural identity, particularly now that the emergence of new technologies has undervalued and diminished the importance of these material and historical resources.

The overall objective of this research has been to establish a solid interdisciplinary methodology which would facilitate a detailed analysis of reading habits in the Modern Age. In order to realise this objective a tightly defined corpus and context was established: the reading of Luis de Góngora’s Polifemo and Soledades in the seventeenth century. A fundamental objective of this research has been to demonstrate the need for interdisciplinarity in the Humanities, namely how Philology, History, and other sciences and other peripheral fields, such as Ecdotics, Archive Studies, or Palaeography, can be applied in a fruitful manner to a single study corpus in order to obtain a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of literary history, reading patterns, and seventeenth-century society.

Work performed

This research project began from the hypothesis that it was possible to study the reception of Luis de Góngora’s poetry within an innovative, interdisciplinary framework, within which the actual readers who owned printed or manuscript copies of his work would be identified. To achieve this goal, a new methodology was created which combined archival research with qualitative and quantitative analysis of material evidence of readership. A plan of library and archive consultation was established to gather the necessary information. Printed texts and manuscripts have been consulted in the following institutions: Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid), Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española (Madrid), Biblioteca de Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (Santander), Biblioteca General (University of Seville), Biblioteca Nacional de Francia (Paris), Public Library of Boston, and The McClay Library (Queen\'s University Belfast). In addition, the research has taken into consideration digital copies of printed and manuscript works from a range of sources. Following each visit and collation of information in archives and libraries, a period of information analysis took place, along with a revision and validation of the proposed methodology.
A multi-relational database was designed (which integrated databases of printed and manuscript volumes, and information obtained from inventories discovered through the research process).
The research outcomes to date have been publicly presented in the following conferences (and will be published):
- “Lectores y lecturas de las Lecciones solemnes de Pellicer”, La edición digital de la polémica gongorina. Balance y perspectivas (Sorbonne University, 7-8 December 2015).
- “Nuevos asedios para el estudio de la recepción de Luis de Góngora en el siglo XVII”, The 62nd Annual Meeting of the Renaissance Society of America (Boston, 31 March to 2 April 2016).
- “Manuscritos poéticos de Luis de Góngora en las bibliotecas del siglo XVII”, XII Encuentros Internacionales sobre Poesía del Siglo de Oro. Controversias y poesía, 1500-1850 (Seville, University of Seville, 17-19 November 2016).
Additionally, the researcher participated in the organisation of international study seminars on the poetry of Luis de Góngora, and which also involved the dissemination of the research carried out: La edición digital de la polémica gongorina. Balance y perspectivas (Sorbonne University, 7-8 December 2015).

Final results

A new methodology was created which combined archival research with qualitative and quantitative analysis of material evidence of readership. A plan of library and archive consultation was established to gather the necessary information. Printed texts and manuscripts have been consulted in the following institutions: Biblioteca Nacional de España (Madrid), Biblioteca de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española (Madrid), Biblioteca de Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo (Santander), Biblioteca General (University of Seville), Biblioteca Nacional de Francia (Paris), Public Library of Boston, and The McClay Library (Queen\'s University Belfast). In addition, the research has taken into consideration digital copies of printed and manuscript works from a range of sources.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.qub.ac.uk.