Published in Journal of Hispanic Philology 2.2 (Winter, 1978 [1979]), 138.
Manuel C. Díaz y Díaz. De Isidoro al siglo XI. Ocho estudios
sobre la vida literaria peninsular. Barcelona: El Albir, 1976. 320 pp.
Manuel Díaz studies in this volume
a topic so little-known to Hispanists in general as to be almost arcane:
Hispano-Latin literature, in particular that which preceded the Arab invasion.
Despite the chastisements of María Rosa Lida (in “La
Garcineida de García de Toledo”), Hispano-Latin literature
is not widely studied, even less so that of the Visigothic period in which
Díaz has specialized. The publication of a volume such as this shows
that, like most other periods in history, there was an active cultural life
in Visigothic times, of which Saint Isidore is the best known, but by no
means the only, representative.
The volume contains eight studies, all
of them published previously. They include both such a general introduction
as “La cultura de la España visigótica del siglo VII,”
previously published in Caratteri del secolo VII in Occidente (Spoleto,
1958), and such highly specific and technical studies as “La
transmisión textual del Biclarense,” a study, first published
in Analecta Sacra Tarrconensia, of the chronicle of the famous Juan
de Bíclaro. Other articles deal with the literary activities of the
bishops of Toledo, the influence of Saint Isidore in medieval Spain, Christian
historiography from the Arabic invasion through the year 1000, and the hymns
in honor of Santiago.
The collection has the defects which
one often finds in collections of previously published articles. The rough
chronological arrangement by topic does not give the articles the same logical
progression that a monograph would have; though the title of the opening
study, for example, suggests a general survey, mention without identification
is made in it of many names with which the non-specialist will not be familiar.
However, few neophytes will read the volume from cover to cover, and the
awkwardness of arrangement of the articles is compensated for by the four
indices: of geographical names, of persons, of topics, and of manuscripts.
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