JOHN TALBOT DILLON’S LETTERS (1781) AND THE ESSAI SUR LA LITTÉRATURE ESPAGNOLE (1810) IN THE BEGINNING OF SPANISH LITERARY HISTORIOGRAPHY

Abstract

Thomasina Ross had already noticed in 1823 that the anonymous Essai sur la littérature espagnole (1810) was a «gross plagiarism» of John Talbot Dillon’s Letters from an English traveller… (1781). This article analyses the textual connection between both texts and it places them in the beginning of Spanish literary historiography. A research on the different national (particularly Velázquez’s Orígenes, 1754) and foreign sources used by Dillon and the Essai’s author is also delivered, presenting some conclusions regarding to: 1) the origin and evolution of the histories of Spanish literature in their transnational dialogue context; 2) the image of Spain and its literature in 18th-century Europe, and how it changes around the beginning of 19th century; a process in which English travellers ––and specially Dillon himself–– had an important impact from the 70s.