Gongora’s Poetic Textual Tradition: An Analysis of Selected Variants, Versions and Imitations of his Shorter Poems

Described as one of Spain’s foremost Golden-Age poets, Luis de Gongora generated a vast and complex poetic textual tradition through the creation, revision and dissemination of his verse. In later life, he authorized his friend Antonio Chacon to compile an anthology of his poetic works which had been in disarray for many years. Gongora’s assistance in identifying the genuine versions of his poems and his participation in the compiling, editing and dating of these poems make the Chacon manuscript (1620) an authoritative collection of the poet’s verse. Nevertheless, it includes defective poems and, moreover, the plethora of variants, versions and imitations of his poetry raises questions of authorship and authenticity. In this work, Professor Chaffee-Sorace discusses Gongora’s poetic textual tradition, studies its problems and examines how they affect specific texts. She analyzes truncated poems, works with apocryphal endings, pieces with inverted strophic order, imitation, variant texts and authentic or spurious versions. By addressing these issues, the author not only provides an insight into Gongora’s creative mind, but also contributes to the completion of both his individual texts and his poetic canon.