The first published iteration, far from complete, comprises Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse ( 18 rev vt Les Dix Jours d'Alphonse van Worden 1814 rev version trans Christine Donogher as Tales from the Saragossa Manuscript: (Ten Days in the Life of Alphonse Van Worden) 1990) it seems to have been printed privately (Potocki's frequent practice) and deposited in a Saint Petersburg library. Potocki (who lived part of his life in Paris and who – in common with most members of the Eastern European nobility – spoke and wrote in French) is thought to have begun composing the book as early as 1794, publishing parts of the cycle in the first years of the nineteenth century, and continuing to work on the manuscripts until his Suicide. Some early doubts about Potocki's authorship seem to have been laid to rest, and there have been no twenty-first century reiterations of any fundamental doubt about his composition of the whole but the story of the book's coming together and publication, and the continued discovery of added manuscript evidence, is exceedingly complicated authentic sources for some "days" seem still to be missing. Saragossa's creation around the beginning of the nineteenth century emphasizes its significance in the evolution of the short story Potocki's ingenious uses here of Club Story conventions are as compelling and evocative as E T A Hoffmann's similar innovations only a few years later. He is best-known for Manuscrit trouvé à Saragosse, a complex text whose publication history is so convoluted that doubts were for some time plausibly expressed as to Potocki's actual authorship of the full book, which is a cycle of nested stories told by various characters (some of whom are themselves characters in some of the stories being told by others) over a period of sixty-six nights, the various sections (usually identified according to the days covered) being written, revised and published in no clear order single days do not necessarily correspond to individual stories, any more than The Arabian Nights contains 1001 tales in its 1001 nights. (1761-1815) Polish military engineer, ethnologist, linguist, traveller and author whose first stories – which show the influences of Arabian Fantasy – appeared in the 1780s, embedded into his travel books.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |