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Washington Irving's Notes on Fernán Caballero's Stories
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
On New Year's Eve, 1828, Washington Irving, who was stopping in Seville during his first visit to Spain, made this entry in his diary:
Call this morning … on the Marchioness of Arco Hermoso, make a long visit, the Marchioness relates many village anecdotes of the village of Dos Hermanas. Return home & make a note of two of them.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1934
References
1 Washington Irving Diary, Spain 1828–1829, ed. C. L. Penney (New York, 1926), p. 89.
2 Ibid., p. 90.
3 Cf. Williams, Stanley T., “Washington Irving and Fernán Caballero,” JEGP, xxix, 3 (July, 1930), 352–366.
4 Cf. Latour, Antoine de, “Fernán Caballero,” Le Correspondant, August 25, 1857, p. 620.
5 Williams, Stanley T., op. cit., p. 360.
6 Together with this sheaf of notes are preserved some sheets written in Spanish and headed “Dos Anécdotas.” These will be described and discussed in another article.
7 Irving's spelling, punctuation, and arrangement of lines on his small octavo sheets has been followed closely. Words crossed out by Irving have been indicated by italics whenever legible, and when illegible by points of suspense. When Irving's final draft of a passage is in doubt, a query has been placed after the word in question.
8 This is the beginning of a new page in the original.
9 The pronoun plainly refers to the father of the murdered man.
10 Caballero, Fernán, Obras completas, (Madrid, Rivadeneyra, 1893–1914), i, 366.
11 The pronoun obviously refers to the guard.
12 Caballero, Fernán, Op. cit., xi, 225–248; first published in La España, Madrid, January 25–27, 1857 Núms. 2384–2386.
13 Ibid., p. 230.
14 Ibid., p. 247.
15 Ibid., p. 248.
16 Caballero, Fernán, Op. cit., v, 7–300; first published in La España, Madrid. 1849.
17 This attitude toward adopted children, which regards them as members of the family except when there is a question of a blood alliance, is the theme of another work of Fernán Caballero's, “Más honor que honores” (Obras completas, xi, 1–118).
18 Obras completas, i, 323–324.
19 Ibid., xi, 382–385.
20 Ibid., i, 357.
21 Obras completas, i, p. 264.
22 Now in the possession of the family of Fernán Caballero.
23 The theme of the injured person extending pardon to a criminal and keeping silent about the crime is a favorite one with Fernán Caballero. It occurs in “Callar en vida y perdonar en la muerte” (Obras completas, ix, 367–419), “Simon Verde” (Ibid., viii, 1–127, “Vulgaridad y nobleza” (Ibid., viii, 217–323), as well as in La familia de Alvareda.
24 Cf. e.g. Obras completas i, 285–286; ix, 229–230; xi, 480–481; ii, 116, et al.—It is barely possible that Irving had this incident in mind when he wrote of the mysterious vesper bell in his story of the “Legend of the Engulphed Convent.” Cf. The Works of Washington Irving, ed. R. H. Stoddard (New York, n.d.), iii, 642.
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