Critical Edition of JosÉ Cadalso’s cartas Marruecas with Introduction, Annotations, and Glossary

“This edition and its pedagogical apparatus (notes, biographical and historical introduction, chronological chart, and glossary) offer an indispensable aid to American readers to fully comprehend this vital work of Spanish Literature and its tremendous impact in its time. It is evident that this critical edition will be the preferred choice for libraries, teachers and professors of Spanish… throughout the United States… this edition will also be the ideal option for those Latino readers in the US who have the interest and curiosity but lack the specialized vocabulary and background knowledge to fully enjoy this work.”
-Miryam Criado,
Professor of Spanish,
Hanover College

“… the introduction, time table, manuscript footnotes, and glossary are intended to facilitate student comprehension of the literary work, the scope and depth of these aids, especially the critical introduction, render this volume an essential resource for scholars of eighteenth century Europe and of Spanish literature as well as those whose scholarship centers on notions of national and cultural identities.”
-Lea Ramsdell, Associate Professor,
Director of Latin American Studies,
Towson University

“…the reader of this text will find a comprehensive picture of the geo-political world of Spain, Europe and North Africa during the Enlightenment… the author delineated carefully and completely a kaleidoscope of the political, intellectual, and philosophical trends of Calalso’s immediate world at that time… [it] is an example of excellent, academic scholarship”
-James Medvitz,
Adjunct Professor in Spanish,
Towson University

"The highlist of this reading is the author's extensive intertextual analysis. She observes the blurring of fiction and reality produced by Cadalso's apocryphal technique. ... What makes this book of even greater pedagogical value is the meticulously prepared Spanish-English glossary totaling 122 pages and which includes more than 4,800 entries. Its comprehensiveness is such that it precludes the need for students to resort to a bilingual dictionary. ... Overall, this edition is a thoroughly researched contribution to the examination of one of Spain's most important enlightenment writers and his best known work." - Prof. Kelly Camille Moore, University of Wyoming

FOREWORD / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
INTRODUCTION:
SPAIN DURING THE REIGN OF CHARLES III: ENLIGHTENMENT LIFE AND PERSONALITY OF JOSÉ CADALSO: AN OVERVIEW
Cosmopolitan formation
Spanish studies, return to the foreign world and military career
Social life and exile
His affair with María Ignacia Ibáñez
Final years and death
LITERARY TRAJECTORY OF CADALSO
Poetic and dramatic initiation
Works in prose
CARTAS MARRUECAS
History and problems of the text
The epistolary genre, the correspondents and the literary sources
Cadalso and Montequieu
Levels of intention of the work on the part of the author
The “Criticism of a nation”
The society, the “concurrence”, the fashion
“Noble Manhood” and “Golden Mean”
The conflict between the positive and negative ideas
The tension between optimism and pessimism in the life of Cadalso
LITERARY DIRECTIONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE CARTAS MARRUECAS
The narrative dimension, the formal aspects and aesthetic resonances
Literary values, style and moral preoccupations
The perspectivism
The authenticity
The apocryphal technique
The irony
The types
ABOUT THIS EDITION
CHRONOLOGICAL CHART
CARTAS MARRUECAS
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
FINAL GLOSSARY