Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1991. British and American Philologycal Studies (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 20)

Lehel Vadon: Spanish Roots of American Literature

8 besides France and Spain. In the last quarter of the century some Americans were familiar with Sir William Davenant's opera. The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru. Dryden's The Conquest of Granada the first use of the term "noble savage" occurs here and with Coleridge's Osorio. The noble savage appeared in the eighteenth-century American literature in Spanish dress, too. In these stories and poems the Spaniard was the glittering villain and the native, the hopeless hero.Aeosta, though was hard upon the Indian, idealized him on occasion. Garcilaso de la Vega spread these primitive fancies. To Las Casas the Indian was not only good but perfectible. The same idea can be found in other books, in Richard Alsop's translation of a history of Chile, in the verse of Barlow and Freneau, and in the plays of Dunlap. We may finally mention a direct and powerful impact of Spain upon eighteenthcentury American literature, namely, that of the Spanish classical writers: Quevedo, Lope de Vega and Cervantes. But only one writer, Cervantes enjoyed a significant attention among cultivated readers. He was known everywhere, even in the colonial literature, and his Don Quixote's triumph was complete in the eighteen-century America. Cervantes and The Knight of the Woeful Countenance entered America before Shakespeare. His and his works' acceptance in the United States is so rich and varied that it deserves another study. The nineteenth century was to witness the real dedication of talented writers to Spanish studies. During the next hundred and fifty years the major Spanish and SpanishAmerican influences developed so rapidly that the period, we discussed seems to be bare and poor. But these far-reaching effects of these early works, together with new influences and experiences could only mean a prolonged consecration for Ticknor and Prescott, an enrichment of his imaginative life for Irving, a gateway into the world of European romantic literature for Long fellow, a spiritual experience in French and Spanish writers for Lowell, a critical life for Howells, the arresting of a neglected tradition for Bret Harte, and a wide range of expression for Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck and many other twentieth-century writers.