Under the title: “Classical tradition in Latin American traditions of the XX century”, Professor José María Camacho Rojo, of the Department of Greek Studies of the University of Granada, has just published an analytic bibliography as a result of the work of many years doing research and documentation.
According to Professor Andrés Pociña, author of the prologue of this work, “the book has been produced to rigorous standards. José María Camacho Rojo has included the result of many years of patient and meticulous data collection which have been examined not to talk “from hearsay”: he has examined all the works included, and I can assure it because ha has discussed with me the development of this work over and over again, as well as the difficulties to get the material used in many occasions. But, in addition, such work can only be prepared with precision if the person who carries it out feels at ease in the field of study”.
According to teacher Pociña, “working in the field of literary survival as we want and we must in Classical requires a deep knowledge of the two facets of the literature of the ancient world, Greek and Latin literature, but also working fluently and, above all, with interest and inclination towards modern literatures. If that is not the case, it is better to give up because the results will be the usual minor papers, without skill or care, commonly known as botched jobs”.
Classical Tradition
By “classical tradition” we understand an interdisciplinary field of study that, in the framework of comparative literature, has acquired in the last years in Spain a significant and fast rise (in fact, it is given in several universities) and it affects equally classical philologists and specialists in other studies.
“In 1991 we published –Professor Camacho asserts—a first outline of a bibliographic essay on classical tradition in Hispanic literatures from their beginning to the XX century. There are two later and very useful catalogues by Vicente Cristóbal on literary survival in Spanish literature of classical mythology Latin authors. A more recent one and no specifically dedicated to Hispanic literatures in the catalogue by Guillermo Galán Vioque”.
According to the author of this volume, “in our outline we included more than seven hundred works on the subject, without the aim of being exhaustive, given the diversity of publications in which there can be found works related to this subject. We aimed to gradually extend such compilation, in the field of Hispanic literatures exclusively; but, from that date, the number of published works on the subject has increased in such a way that, to include every period, it was necessary a team work or, in case we worked individually, by complete periods, with the aim of offering useful and complete information.”
Reference: Prof. José María Camacho Rojo
Dpt. of Greek Studies. University of Granada
Phone number: 958 243693.
E-mail: camachor@ugr.es