Libro de Buen Amor (Princeton Legacy Library) - Hardcover

Ruiz, Juan; Willis, Raymond Smith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 069106086X ISBN 13: 9780691060866

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2019

Synopsis

This edition is designed to open the enchanting book to all readers of modern Spanish. Raymond Willis has regularized and brought the medieval text as close as possible, without falsification, to modern canons. The text is printed integrally, without annotation. Mr. Willis' English paraphrase, printed on facing pages, is written in syntactical constructions that exactly parallel the Spanish verses, and thus functions as both a glossary and a key to puzzling constructions.

Originally published in 1972.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Libro de Buen Amor

By Juan Ruiz, Raymond S. Willis

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright © 1972 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-691-06086-6

Contents

Table of Headings, xi, 
Introduction, xvii, 
Preamble, xix, 
The Present Edition, liii, 
The Poetry, lxxiii, 
Bibliography, xcii, 
Text, 2, 
Appendix, 475, 
Spelling Key, 477, 
Glossary, 478, 

CHAPTER 1

This is the prayer that the Archpriest made to God when he commenced his book

1. Lord God, who delivered the Jews, accursed race, from captivity, from under the power of Pharaoh; who delivered Daniel from the pit of Babylon: deliver me, racked by anguish, from this dire prison.

2. Lord, You gave grace to Queen Esther; in the presence of King Ahasuerus she received your condign grace: Lord, give me swiftly your grace and your mercy; deliver me from this anguish, from this wretched prison.

3. Lord, You who delivered the prophet from the den [of lions] ; who delivered St. James' body from the power of the unbelievers; who freed St. Marina from the belly of the dragon: deliver me, my God, from this prison in which I lie.

4. Lord, You who freed St. Susanna from the false testimony of the two perjured cronies, free me, my God, from this great torment; give me your mercy, withdraw your wrath from me.

5. You delivered Jonah from the belly of the whale, in which he dwelt for three days out in the open sea, You delivered him unharmed, as from a good abode: Messiah, rescue me, without blame and without punishment.

6. Lord, You rescued the three youths from death, You delivered them unharmed from the raging fire of the furnace; You raised St. Peter from the waves of the sea: Lord, deliver your Archpriest from this tribulation.

7. And You, who told your servants that You would be with them when they spoke before kings, and would say words to them so that they might speak the better: Lord, abide with me, protect me from betrayers.

[Here a scribe evidently omitted a portion of the text, which resumes with a prayer to the Virgin.]

8. Great was the name spoken in prophecy. Emmanuel, Son of God Most High, Savior of Israel; in his salutation the Angel Gabriel assured you [Blessed Virgin] of this, you were assured of him.

9. For the sake of this prophecy and of this salutation, in the exalted name of Emmanuel, Salvation, give me grace, Our Lady, give me consolation; obtain for me, from your Son, grace and benediction.

10. Give me grace, Queen of all queens; withdraw your displeasure from me; dispel spite from me; turn everything back against my slanderers; help me, Blessed Mother of sinners.

I will give thee understanding, and I will instruct thee in this way in which thou shalt go; I will fix my eyes upon thee. So says the Prophet David, speaking with the Holy Spirit, to each of us in the Thirty-first Psalm [as numbered in the Vulgate Bible], tenth verse, which is the one I wrote above at the beginning. In this verse I understand three things, which certain men schooled in philosophy say are in the soul and pertain particularly to it. They are these: understanding, will, and memory. And these I say, if they be good, bring comfort to the soul, and lengthen the life of the body, and give it honor together with benefit and good repute. For with good understanding, man understands the good, and from this he knows the bad. And therefore one of the pleas that David made to God, so that he might understand His law, was this: Give me understanding, et cetera. For man, by understanding the good, will have fear of God, which is the beginning

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN 10: 069106086X
• ISBN 13: 9780691060866
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 616