La traduzione del Cortegiano e l’aspirazione spagnola a una cultura degna della nuova condizione imperiale

Abstract

Garcilaso de la Vega, who discovered the text while he was in Italy, proposed to his friend Juan Boscàn to translate Il Libro del cortegiano (The Courtier’s book) into Spanish. The translation appeared in 1534 and was reprinted thirteen times: this was the only work that Boscàn published. This decision was in some way the ideological manifesto of the new school, that wanted to go beyond the provincialism of Spanish culture by assimilating the poetic expression and the courtesan culture of Italy. The article then considers the translation arrangements made by Boscan and shows how this unique work allowed the latter to be considered as a leading innovator of Castilian prose at the time of Charles V.