The texts that make up this digital edition
THE NATIONAL EDITION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF MENÉNDEZ PELAYO
Miguel Ángel Garrido Gallardo
Spanish Language Institute (CSIC)
The Spanish National Research Council, which was created after the civil war of 1936-1939 in order to give continuity to the work that had been carried out in Spain by the Council for the Extension of Studies, quickly addressed the task of editing the complete works of Menéndez Pelayo in the Humanities area, comprehensively expanding the project that the maestro had just started when he died suddenly and had been continued with unique success by Adolfo Bonilla y San Martín and Miguel Artigas.The CSIC proposed to make an edition worthy of the importance of the published material and instructed Miguel Artigas, Director of the National Library to continue with the project management and give this publishing task to Enrique Sanchez Reyes, Director of the "Menendez Pelayo” Library. A copious full index of subjects would facilitate the consultation of a work that is so extensive, so varied and as complex as is that of Marcelino.
Artigas died while editing volume II of the History of the Aesthetic Ideas and was replaced by Ángel Sánchez Palencia, professor of Spanish Literature at the University of Madrid, who managed to prepare the volumes of the classic Latin-Hispanic Literature. Rafael de Balbin Lucas, who, from his responsibility of director of the CSIC, had always encouraged this publication, succeeded him in 1952.
I pick these names, because it is only fair to show due thanks to those who made the proper conservation and dissemination of this treasure possible. In particular, Enrique Sanchez Reyes who provided a priceless service from start to finish. In recognition, Balbin ordered that a third edition of the biography of Menéndez Pelayo, published years ago by Sanchez Reyes, be recorded as a another volume, the 66th (1974) in the collection, and finally, if one takes into account that the translations of the works of Shakespeare were left, with preliminary study by Esteban Pujals, they constituted the 67th volume that appeared in the same year.
I have no doubt that if Marcelino himself had been able to carry out the edition of his Complete Works, we would have lost many young, minor or occasional texts that we offer here. That desire of propriety is natural in the author. However, we researchers would like to thank those responsible of the edition for the quest of completeness that allows us to detect clues and background and contextualize the fundamental contributions of the maestro.
The grouping made of the works in series is certainly debatable, but in no case less adequate than that which Marcelino had already foreseen for his more limited purpose. I personally just hold one apprehension: I would have preferred that the fundamental volume of Horacio in Spain would not have diluted its title exempt in the classic Latin-Hispanic Literature series.
At this point, neither the importance of the enormous legacy of Marcelino need be pointed out, nor the inevitable aging of some contributions or approaches. I cannot however resist remembering, at least, the current significance of his work in respect of the historiography of literature and culture in Spanish.
Menendez Pelayo had planned to address everything that was pending to be studied in this vast territory, also understood in its broadest sense: in time, from Roman Spain and in terms of space, spanning the entire peninsula (including Portugal) and its conquests.
Not even a Cyclopean capacity like his was able to do this, but, in addition to many final studies, he bequeathed the entire map of the roads which had to be travelled over. With regard to the history of literature, the twentieth century has been entirely spent in advancing through these routes.
In the threshold of the 21st century, the complete works of Menéndez Pelayo are essential, in fact, for three reasons: due to the quality of his monographs, due to his status as a guide to the research that has been done in the 20th century, and due to his possible use as an index of that which still remains to be investigated.
The national edition of the complete works of Menéndez Pelayo is without a doubt one of the most important contributions of the Spanish National Research Council in the field of Humanities. Its publication in electronic format will allow us to keep awake a tremendous amount of work already depleted and that by its own magnitude was difficult to put within the reach of the new generations. That is why, when the Tavera Foundation and the other commendable institutions that sponsor this project requested permission from the presidency of the CSIC, César Nombela did not hesitate to grant it for a moment.
Let us think about, what finally this electronic edition once again provides. The indices that the national edition already has, have been enhanced as far as possible with the search mechanism that the new technologies provide. Now, when appropriate, in the strict sense, it will be possible to track any issue in the complete works of Menéndez Pelayo. It is not necessary consider how much we must thank this advancement for.
The compilation and editing of the extensive correspondence by Menéndez Pelayo during his life was, right from the years immediately after his death, an undertaking of the highest priority for all those involved, with greater or lesser proximity, in the memory or the study of the figure of Menéndez Pelayo. The dimension of that correspondence and, above all, that in it there were so many different actors in public life and Spanish culture of almost half a century, made the rescue of the collection of letters a project that ensured a flow of invaluable information for the history of scientific and cultural life between 1871 and 1912, basic dates of the letters collected in this edition.
Over the years fragments of that correspondence were broken down into publications of a very varied nature. But that aspiration to unify it, converting it into a single body in which the most important names of the time parade and speak, would not be achieved until many years later, in the 1980s, when Pedro Sáinz Rodríguez, from the Spanish University Foundation’s management, took up and finally promoted the old project.
The result, a magnificent edition in 23 volumes (22 for the collection of letters and one of indexes), published between 1982 and 1991, which contain the correspondence in chronological order. All the editing was undertaken by Manuel Revuelta Sañudo, then director of the Menéndez Pelayo Library, who led the project with admirable thoroughness and tidiness.
Details on the methodological and editing criteria, the vicissitudes of the Don Marcelino’s Collection of Letters, previous attempts of editing and other issues, are clear and widely detailed in the preface that Manuel Revuelta Sañudo prepared for volume I of the Collection of Letters.
The "Prologue" is also completed with a detailed bibliography of Published Collection of Letters, which at the same time serves as a guide to the references that are inserted into the previously edited letters.
Also, in some volumes are collected, in the respective preliminary warnings, the particularities and editorial clarifications concerning the collection of letters sets included in them.
In short, as Manuel Revuelta pointed out in the above-mentioned "Prologue", the editing of the Collection of Letters represents "a natural continuation from the point of view of the edition, and having considered its chronological trajectory, a supplement to his Complete Works". In addition, the Spanish University Foundation was fulfilling "a cherished unattained dream by those who had in some way inherited the work and the spirit of the wise person from Santander".
BIBLIOGRAPHY ON MENÉNDEZ PELAYO
The set of references that appear under the general heading of Bibliography comes from two different, but complementary sources:
1. Bibliography of studies on Menéndez Pelayo, the work of the researchers Amancio Labandeira Fernández, Jerónimo Herrera Navarro and Julio Escribano Hernández (Madrid : Spanish University Foundation, 1995. 250 p.).
From this come most of the references: 2,818 of the total of 3,072 that are collected in this database. This Bibliography of studies on Menéndez Pelayo therefore represents the most complete work that has been published to date. This work shows the exhaustive investigation which its authors have carried out and the great importance of the figure of the polygraph from Santander. The compilation is preceded by a learned and wise introduction on the literary production of Menéndez Pelayo.
In the printed version (along with a comprehensive index of names for obvious reasons this is not present in this digital version), the bibliography was organised into five major subject headings, divided in turn into a total of 21 articles, which grouped together the whole of the bibliographic information listed.
2. The second source from which the rest of references has been taken is the Bibliography on Menéndez Pelayo and his Library (1973-1994) by Rosa Fernández Lera and Andrés del Rey Sayagués, published the same year as the previous work (Newsletter of the Menéndez Pelayo Library LXXI (1995) 255-323): This intended to update the comprehensive studies conducted by José Simón Díaz that had come to a stop in 1973 and that organised the work into three main thematic sections: "Life", "Work" and "Library". Like the previous ones, this bibliography records "monographs, joint studies, magazine articles," the editions of Menéndez Pelayo’s works that have appeared in recent years, press articles and "notes and reviews, no matter how insignificant they are."
• The digital edition follows the classification of first source. The subject headings have been incorporated into the subject field, and their complete list with their subdivisions, is accessible via the drop-down glossary that is incorporated next to the "subjects” field in the search screen. Its contents are as follows:
• General References.. These include bibliographies, joint studies and special issues of magazines dedicated to Don Marcelino.
• Biography. This includes, in seven sections, everything related to his biography: general biographies, partial aspects of his life, obituary studies, his house and his library, his family, the tributes, his teachers, disciples, friends and colleagues.
• Critical appraisal of his work. The investigations that present a critical appraisal of his work are mentioned in ten sections, alluding to his relationship with science, culture, religion, philosophy, aesthetics, literature, history, Hispanism and other subjects.
• His Works. There are numerous studies on his works.
• Collection of Letters Studies that have been carried out on his collection of letters.
• Addendum . In total, 255 new records have been incorporated into this electronic version, taken from the second work. They are distinguished with the note "Addendum", at the beginning of the registration and in brackets.
In some of these records, the absence of author and/or title will be seen. In the latter case it is always a question of references that refer to articles in the press in recent years. This information is reflected as was provided by the authors of the Addenda.
