Enlightenment Spain and the Encyclopédie Méthodique
By: edited and translated by Clorinda Donato and Ricardo López
Series: Oxford University studies in the Enlightenment -- 2015:11; Oxford University studies in the Enlightenment -- 2015:11.
Publisher: Voltaire Foundation
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Oxford
Language: eng; fre; spa
Number of pages: 314
ISBN-13: 9780729411707
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Encyclopedias and dictionaries; Enlightenment; Encyclopédie méthodique; History and criticism
Description: What did Europe owe Spain in the eighteenth century? This infamous question, posed by Nicolas Masson de Morvilliers in the Encyclopédie Méthodique, caused an international uproar at the height of the Enlightenment. His polemical article 'Espagne', with its tabloid-like prose, resonated with a French-reading public that blamed the Spanish Empire for France's eroding economy. Spain was outraged, and responded by publishing its own translation-rebuttal, the article 'España' penned by Julián de Velasco for the Spanish Encyclopedia metódica. In this volume, the original French and Spanish articles are presented in facing-page English translations, allowing readers to examine the content and rhetorical maneuvers of Masson's challenge and Velasco's riposte. This comparative format, along with the editors' critical introduction, extensive annotations, and an accompanying bibliographical essay, reveals how knowledge was translated and transferred across Europe and the transatlantic world. The two encyclopedia articles bring to life a crucial period of Spanish history, culture and commerce, while offering an alternative framework for understanding the intellectual underpinnings of a Spanish Enlightenment that differed radically from French philosophie. Ultimately, this book uncovers a Spain determined to claim its place in the European Enlightenment and on the geopolitical stage.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-301) and index.

Text in English, French, and Spanish.