16 AUGUST 1946, Page 20

Literary and Historic Spain

St. John of the Cross and Other Lectures and Addresses. By

AT a time when Spain is such a battle-ground for external political opinions, a book (by the Gilmour Professor of Spanish at the University of Liverpool) dealing with literature, history and great men comes as a breath of fresh air. Not only does it remind us that there have been other Spains beside that of General Franco, that Spain is an integral part of Europe, with an immense influence on European civilisation, and also has closer bonds with the New World than perhaps any country except Britain, but it also draws our attention to the internal movements, the politics' the separatist urge of Catalonia. Professor Peers speak& of internal affairs with authority, since he has lived in the country and been acquainted with some of its great figures. He is particularly interested in- Spanish mysticism, and begins with a study of St. John of the Cross, omitting to connect the poetry with that of the English mystics (so comparable) of the following century but asserting that it "should find an echo in the twentieth century." A series of writers' mystics and teachers follows, including Juan Luis Vives, who lived for years in England in close touch with Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. The Catalan renaissance of last century, with its poets and Jocs Florals (to be compared with Welsh Eisteddfods), is included, and finally there is a section on "Modern Spain," with notes on various literary characters and on King Alfonso and the material progress made during his reign.

The book has certain minor faults. To the reader interested in literature the English rhyming translations (with the text altered unmercifully to create the rhymes), which are often the only versions given, are a disappointment. Surely the Spanish or Catalan text, with a literal prose translation, would be better ; for the type of reader interested in this book will either know Spanish or be able to puzzle out for himself (with a translation) the words of these easily read

languages.. Then flit studies, being talks delivered at various times, have occasionally dated. The commemoration in 1942, for example, of the 450th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America—one of the most vivid pieces of writing in the book—concludes with the vision of " some form of Anglo-Hispanic alliance embracing the whole of the Western Hemisphere, the British Commonwealth of Nations, Portugal and Spain." With Franco and Peron still in the saddle that ideal seems distant. _Similarly there is some lack of editing. "Two portraits" *Lope de Vega, talks given at different times, offer very similar comments and might easily have been run together. Perhaps, too, the literary judgements are occasionally uncritical ; loose phrases are u310 such as real eloquence" of Rubio i Ors, a "poem . . . trembling with emotion" of Jacinto Verdaguer and the "impalpable beauty" of Antonio Machado's- Soledades.

But perhaps this is carping ; and in any case these are minor blemishes. The book is packed with information of an unusual kind—information that could be gained only by close association with the country—and with scholarship that has none of scholar- ship's sometimes dusty quality. It is lively and palatable and often very much off the beaten track. It should be read with pleasure by anyone with any interest in Spain—particularly literary Spain.

GWENDOLEN FREEMAN.