La recepción de Ossian en España

Abstract

At the turn of the eighteenth century, James Macpherson, a young Scottish author, published a series of poems allegedly composed by Ossian, a Caledonian bard of the third century. The author claimed he had translated them from Gaelic to English, and readers all over Europe showed great interest for his poems. They found in them a new way of interpreting antiquity and a different way of expressing sentiment. They also provoked a controversy about their authenticity that lasts till today. The reception of the Ossianic works in Spain has been considered minor by most of the researchers who have been interested in the matter. The present thesis contains a new study of the reception of these poems in Spain. It includes an analysis of the books published between 1780 and 1928 that include Ossianic poems. These books are divided in two groups: complete books of Ossianic poetry (four in total) and anthologies that present some poem (four in total). The analysis includes different aspects of the publications (a biography of its author, its influence on the press, extratextual information contained in each edition and a study on the translation). The next element contained in the thesis is a study on the influence of these poems on the Spanish population through the press between 1778 and 1990. Quotes on the press are grouped by genre and theme. This part deals with translations published on newspapers and quotations and references in varied texts, such as creative articles or literary and historic studies. To conclude, the thesis reviews the relationship on the press between Ossian and several authors whose names have been associated to the poems published by Macpherson: Chateaubriand, Byron and Goethe. The reception of Ossian in Spain might seem secondary if the study is restricted to the published translations, but the influence is undoubtable if other ways of dissemination are taken in account.